Thievery and Bending
by Carissa Faeky
Summary: Bolin is bored now that Korra and Mako are dating and he's looking for something to do when he meets a thief who might not be what or who they seem.
1. Chapter 1

Just so you know, Bolin is romantically involved later in the story with a GIRL. So don't leave just because certain things appear a certain way. 3 Cheers, lovely people!

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Bolin scuffed his foot along the side of the street, keeping out of the way of the many civilians and dodging the few Satomobiles that managed to clog the busy street in the aftermath of Amon's attempt to take over Republic City. Things were slowly going back to normal, although the pro-bending arena still hadn't reopened. There were more important things to fix, he supposed, like the city hall and residential areas. Still, he was bored. He needed something to do, and sitting around on Air Temple Island wasn't going to work; he'd be forced to listen to and watch Mako and Korra flirting with each other and that was something he didn't want to deal with despite how good-natured he is. Everyone in the city was pitching in to help rebuild the city; non-benders and benders alike. He'd taken a ferry to the mainland from the island to see if anyone could use any help with heavy lifting or the like. He liked being useful, to the point of over-exerting himself without thinking through something beforehand. He took a sharp left down a skinny alleyway and sauntered onto a less busy street.

"Stop! Thief!"

Bolin froze, listening for the location of the cry from a male voice. It was probably the metal bending police force, judging by the wire cables that were being thrust out from the suits of two men chasing after a skinny boy. The boy kept glancing behind him, dodging all of the wires and maintaining a distinct advantage in distance. Apparently the boy had stolen a loaf of bread and a few green apples. The kid was dirty, as if he hadn't had a bath in weeks, and his clothes were raggedy as any other street beggar, but something was off about them. Bolin readied himself to help stop or hinder the thief but something curious happened. A mother shrieked as her toddler fell from a broken second story window. The child was screaming bloody murder as he fell, and Bolin knew he couldn't get there in time. Luckily for the child, the thief saw the fall happen and he snatched the child out of midair. Doing this, he lost the distance advantage, but he still paused to set the child down gently on the front step of his home and took off. The officers were a mere arm-length behind him, now, and they were gaining fast, each swing of their arms and wires catching a bit of fabric on his sleeve as he moved. Bolin made a split second decision to help the thief out. Bolin and his brother, Mako had been out on the streets as children, so he knew desperation when he saw it. Whistling cheerfully, he dashed between the officers and the thief, crashing headlong into them.

The two officers cursed as the thief made his getaway. Hostile in their lack of success to catch the food thief, they threatened to put Bolin away in the local jail for a night as punishment for aiding a criminal. Bolin put on his best innocent face and cheerfully protested his involvement. "I'm awfully sorry, officers, I wasn't looking where I was going. I'll be sure to pay attention next time!" He saluted the men and smiled as soon as the men were on their way, having given up on their chase.

Hearing a squeaking at his feet, his small grin grew into a beaming smile as he picked up Pabu, his fire ferret. Bolin, Mako, and Korra were the three members of the pro-bending team "The Fire Ferrets," and Pabu was treated as ferret royalty for being their mascot. Bending down to scratch the fire ferret in his favorite place to be scratched behind his ears, the pair heard a voice hiss from the shadows. Pabu skittered over to the voice and Bolin swiftly followed to investigate. When he caught up to Pabu, however, the person had already disappeared, leaving behind a note scrawled into the dirt.

"Thank you for your help. Someday, I'll repay your kindness. I never leave a debt unpaid." The handwriting was strangely neat for a street urchin's writing, but perhaps the thief had an education before they became homeless. He scratched the note out of the ground so no one would see it, not that it would matter. No one pays attention to words written in shadows.

"Well, Pabu," he picked up the energetic ferret and placed him carefully around his shoulders. "It's probably time to head back home. It's getting dark, and I don't want Mako to worry about me. If he actually remembered that he hadn't seen me for more than three hours. I doubt it." He buried his nose in the ferret's strangely and pleasantly fragrant fur, feeling comfort in the familiar. "He's got better, prettier people to worry about besides his little bro."

The pair picked their way through the crowd and back to the ferry, which was leaving for the last trip of the evening. It was never seriously busy, as only a few people lived on Air Temple Island. Counting on his fingers to see the total of who lived with him he counted around fifteen people including Korra, Mako, Asami, Tenzin, Pema, Jinora, Ikki, Meelo, Rohan, the Air Acolytes, and the White Lotus Sentries, plus Naga and Oogi, the Korra's Polar Bear dog and the resident Sky Bison.

As the ferry docked, Bolin assumed most everyone had gone to bed, judging by the lack of lights throughout the many buildings on the island. Deciding to creep into his bedroom without disturbing anyone, he made his way up the huge stairway leading up to the dormitories and main building quietly. He would welcome sleep tonight; tomorrow was going to be another day of the similar type of activities, and the more of it he could sleep away the better.


	2. Chapter 2

All feedback is welcome, my darlings! I've never written an Avatar or LoK fanfiction before so if anything is missing or out of place, let me know! Otherwise, enjoy! 3

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"Whagh!" Bolin bolted upright as a feather pillow exploded over his face. Mako had apparently snuck into his own bed long after Bolin had fallen asleep and now Korra was in their room wreaking havoc in the form of a pillow fight. Bolin grinned and launched a counterattack, using the springy mattress to launch himself into the air to dive towards Korra, pillows in hand. His air attack was stopped short as his face met the wood floor as Korra dodged around him, pummeling Mako with a double handed pillow attack. Mako exploded from the bed with a roar of laughter, grabbing Korra around her waist and holding her up and away from him so she couldn't do any more damage but wave her arms around and kick childishly. Pouting teasingly, she grinned at the boys.

"Good morning!" Asami tapped on the doorframe before entering the full bedroom. "I see you already had your wake up call." Amused, she smiled, shaking her head as she gracefully descended onto the wicker chair by the door. Mako set Korra down gingerly so as not to drop her and faced Asami expectantly. "Today we're assigned to help with the rebuilding of the arena, and since you three all can earth or firebend, you'll be doing a lot of heavy lifting. Tenzin told me to get you lot out there as soon as possible, all right? So, throw something on that you can get dirty in and move your butts out to the mainland!" Standing up and grabbing Korra's hand, she flounced prettily out of the room, dragging a less-than-graceful Korra with her. The brothers glanced simultaneously at each other and dashed for the closet, yanking on clothes as they moved. They knew that if they didn't hurry the girls would make the ferry leave without them.

Upon their arrival on the mainland, the building contractor met them on the dock and laid out the schedule for the next many hours of the day; Mako was to help meld and weld the metal scaffolding back together in the frame of the building while Bolin was told to help lay stone brickwork and mortar. The brothers saluted the build master and scooted away to do their civil duty and help the hard-pressed builders. It was good for non-benders and benders to be working together after Amon tried and succeeded to drive a wedge between the two factions of people.

Nine hours of grueling work later the night had fallen onto the city and almost everyone had gone home to rest up before they would have to return to work the next day. Bolin swiped a grimy hand across his sweating forehead as his brother bid him good night. He'd finished welding the last bolt into the frame, so he was free to go home. Bolin waved him on cheerfully. "All right, bro, I'll see you at home! Don't play too much with Korra, all right?" He winked, playing the character of a scallywag brother. Mako blushed and glanced down before hurrying off with a backward wave of his hand. Bolin had a few more bricks to lay down and then he planned on going to check out the progress on the city hall reconstruction after Tarlock and Korra's battle.

Five minutes after Mako left, Bolin finished his job and skipped away from the worksite. Closing in on the building, he could see that the pillars were in the process of being rebuilt. He kept walking so that he passed the police headquarters on his way back to the dock but paused as a window of a dark room in the building creaked slowly open and a figure slunk out from the frame, sliding quietly down the side of the building. Bolin froze and turned to hide himself in the shadows of the headquarters so the apparent trespasser wouldn't see him. He waited until they were in front of him before announcing his presence.

"Hey! Get out of there!" Bolin gripped the intruder by the back of their shirt and hauled them towards him, depositing them on the dusty ground. "What do you have to say for yourself? Thievery isn't the answer, I can tell you that for sure."

The thief spat on the ground next to his feet in annoyance. "Oh, sure, you know a lot about what is and isn't the answer, I'm sure." When the thief glanced up, Bolin realized why the person had looked familiar. It was the thief he'd helped out the day before. Maybe he'd made a mistake in helping them out, if they weren't just going to stop at food. From what it looked like, the thief had stolen jewelry from the police's evidence room and had been trying to make his escape before Bolin grabbed him. The thief tried to escape, but Bolin gripped them lightly by their neck and spun them around to face him.

"Why don't you return that necklace, huh? If you did that, I'd have no quarrel with you, promise. I wouldn't even report it to an officer of the law," he reasoned, certain that that was a fair deal. No one would get hurt, and nothing would go missing.

Gasping, the robber ducked as the beam from a flashlight shone through the window. The guard must have heard the muted commotion and had come to see the problem. The kid pulled Bolin with him as he ducked so they wouldn't be seen in the guard's light, hushing as the heavy footsteps reached the open window. The guard's shadow fell upon the teens as he bent over the windowpane, expecting to see someone hiding from the law but seeing nothing even as he looked directly at Bolin and the crooked kid. The kid had covered both himself and Bolin with a layer of earth made to look like the ground beneath them. The kid visibly relaxed as the earth receded and the guard re-latched the window.

Bolin's face was a mixture of confusion and interest. "You're an earth bender? That's so cool! I am-"

"Who cares?" The kid interrupted him rudely, his voice harsh and rough even for a whisper. "Look, where I go and what I do isn't any of your business." He removed Bolin's grip from his neck and sneered in his face before disappearing from Bolin's sight by swiftly descending into the ground along with the ragged hemp necklace with cork beading and what appeared to be a ruby at the center of the string. Bolin frowned, glaring daggers at the solid stone pathway below him. The bender hadn't left any trace that he'd been here besides Bolin's memory of his hand on the kid's grimy shirt.

"Weird, isn't he? I can never tell whose side he's on."

Bolin spun around at the familiar voice materializing near him. "Scoochy?" Scoochy was one of Mako and his friends from their time on the streets. He was a bit murky when it came to morals, but he always had information for sale whenever someone needed it…for the right price, of course. "What d'ya mean?"

He shrugged. "That kid showed up a few weeks back out of the blue. Around the time Amon nearly took over the city. He keeps pretty much to himself, only coming out of his secret passageways to get food or information. A strange one, he is. About a week ago, he traded me an apple for the name of that man who'd been framed by one of the gang-bangers who want him out of the way. I think the poor guy must have seen something that someone else wants to keep quiet. Anyways, you know that kid who had the urge to learn how to fly by falling?" When Bolin nodded, the street kid continued patiently. "His father is the guy who was taken in by the police a few weeks ago under suspicion of "gang activity." The prosecution's main defense was based upon that necklace. The mother of that kid is the wife of the man who was framed, and she believes that if the necklace disappears, so does the prosecution's defense. No evidence, no trial. No trial, the man can go back to his family and prevent his kid from skydiving without a parachute. I don't know how that all relates to Mr. Sneaky, but I'm sure I'll find out soon enough." He held out his hand expectantly to Bolin and Bolin flipped him a few yuans to satisfy the price for information.

"How'd you know what I was going to ask you?" Bolin raised an eyebrow curiously.

Scoochy shook his head and smiled sarcastically. "It's my business to know people and what they're doing in my town, right? I at least know you well enough. Thanks for the coins!" He waved; melting back into the shadows of whence he'd came, leaving Bolin alone on the dark street to walk home. He'd made it halfway back to the dock when he realized that the ferry had stopped running hours ago and thwacked himself on his forehead.

"What, you live on Air Temple Island?" Bolin jumped into the air, startled that someone else was around at this time of night. He glanced around, but was unsuccessful at locating the owner of the voice.

"Who's asking?" He puffed up his chest, not all very worried about things that go bump in the dark. He was bigger than most of them, anyway, and a trained pro-bender to boot.

"The ghost of good deeds past, dummy. Who cares who I am, just answer the question."

"Yeah, I live there now. I have for a few months now, since the arena got shut down."

The voice was quiet for a second. "If I help you get home tonight, I'm no longer in your debt, all right?"

Bolin blinked. The ghost of good deeds past had a very similar voice to the thief he'd caught earlier that night, only less raspy and more clear. "What can you possibly do? It's not like you can water bend, or anything. You're not the Avatar." He chuckled at his own joke while the thief continued talking, still hiding from Bolin's sight.

He could practically hear the thief rolling his eyes in annoyance. "Head down into the riverbank and go two hundred paces to your right. An old man operates a small canoe ferry business, and I'm sure he'd be willing to help you. Tell him Bren sent you."

"Bren, huh? Is that your name? Where're you from?"

"You ask too many questions, twinkletoes." With that, Bolin felt the thief's presence recede from the area. Trudging along the riverbank, carefully counting and placing his steps so as not to miss the ferryman in the dark, Bolin picked his way towards a hopeful way of getting home.

"Waddaya want?" Bolin froze at the sound of a weapon being readied for a fight. Turning slowly so as not to make his possible attacker think that he was going to attack first he greeted the man cheerfully.

"Why, hello there, sir? Isn't it a lovely night on the riverbank?" Pabu chose this moment to rejoin Bolin, clambering up his clothes to twine around his neck like a furry version of the scarf Mako loves so much. "I'm sure your boats are lovely, and my dear friend Bren told me you might be able to get me across the water to Air Temple Island?"

The old man lowered his weapon with a suspicious sniff. "Bren sent you? That rascal, I told him to let me help him, not for him to send someone else to gain his earned reward. Who're you, boy?"

"I'm Bolin, part of the pro-bending team 'The Fire Ferrets,' sir. If you don't mind me asking, what exactly did Bren do for you? So far all I've succeeded in is continuing getting mixed reviews on that kid."

"He's no more a kid than you are; he's just a bit scrawnier than you. I imagine he's eaten quite a bit less than you, which would account for that difference," the ragged old man poked a bit of fun at Bolin. He was a large, brawny teenager for his age, but most of it was muscle, not excess fat. His muscles that he was so proud of were mostly hidden behind his clothes, and he assumed the darkness of the night didn't help his case, either. "So, Air Temple Island, huh? I can get you there, so long as you stop talking. Sound carries across the water, and one never knows who's listening." He gestured vaguely around the area, casting his arm in a wide arc. Motioning for Bolin to join him in his canoe, he handed Bolin a paddle, pointing to the right side of the boat. "You paddle on that side, I'll direct the boat and paddle on this side, got it?"

Bolin complied, tired but happy to be headed home, albeit a bit later than he'd have liked. After about fifteen minutes of slightly awkward untalkative paddling, they pulled up on the shoreline of the island and he disembarked onto the beach. The man reached up, putting his leathery hand on Bolin's shoulder as he offered one last piece of advice for the earth bender. "Bren is one of the best people to have on your side. If he likes ya, he'll go to any length to keep ya and those around ya safe, though, Spirits help you if you cross him 'cause then you'll have hell in a meat suit after ya." He tipped his rimmed fisherman's hat and went on his way, leaving Bolin to the short but steep hike up the hill to the dormitories. It was a perfect night for walking and thinking new thoughts.


	3. Chapter 3

Hello, lovely reader! Everyone's input is greatly appreciated, whether it's compliments, critiques, or information. I hope you enjoy the latest installment of Thievery and Bending!

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Another sweltering week later and progress on the arena was nearly complete. Spirits only know what everyone was going to work on next, but having something to focus on for now would entertain Bolin for the moment, and that was all that mattered. He stretched, popping his shoulders as he rolled his neck. He threw down the stone he was earth bending to break it into pieces suitable for bricks.

"Yo! Bolin!" One of his fellow work mates was waving him over to his work station. "Look, Bolin, the guys and I were wondering, could you grab us some water? No one's been up here to refill our tank for hours, and we're running low. We're parched, here!" The man clenched his hands around his throat like he was choking on the dusty air, gaining laughs from everyone around, including Bolin.

"Sure thing," Bolin grinned cheerily, flexing his muscles. "I'll grab the tank and fill 'er up. Be back in fifteen." Dumping the excess water into the cups in the greedy hands of the workers, he hefted the tank, balancing it on his head momentarily just to prove he could. He left to good-natured cat-calls of 'circus-boy' and 'showoff,' racing down the large stone steps to the lunch station, where there was a steady supply of fresh, clean water. He knew it would take a few minutes for the whole thing to get filled up, so he relaxed on the sooty ground, comfortable in his element. He smiled at the pretty ladies running the snack booth, getting them to blush and giggle in no time. He had that effect on girls and women; it was in his genes. He couldn't help it. He was too handsome and useful. They informed him that his tanker was ready, winking sweetly at him. He grasped both of their hands and pressed a feathery kiss to each of their hands before releasing them to get a grip on the tanker before it spilled when the girls swooned.

Bracing himself for the time-consuming, hefty travel back up the flights of stairs, Bolin shoved the tank onto a plane of rock and earth bended the tank up the stairs, letting it lead slightly ahead of him so he wouldn't knock anyone over without knowing it. "Hey, I'm behind you," he called to a wood-worker in front of him when he was nearly to the top of the stairs. They were carrying long loads of straight planks, and he didn't want to startle them. They turned, not expecting Bolin's warning call. A choked noise, quickly followed by the clatter of a human falling down several stone stairs resounded during the confusion, and it only took Bolin a moment to figure out where the noise was coming from. He instantaneously sent the rock with the water flying up the stairs, miraculously missing everyone in its path and reaching the thirsty workers while he dove to halt the painful fall of the person with poor enough luck to have gotten sideswiped by twelve foot long beams of wood. He cradled the person in his arms, using his bending to slow their descent. The person had already taken quite a beating in the moments before Bolin had caught them, and they were curled up in the fetal position to minimize further bodily abuse. When they stopped moving at the bottom of the stairs, it was apparent that for some reason, no one had noticed the fall.

"Hey," Bolin shook the person, unsure of who they were or how injured they were. Their eyes snapped open and the figure tumbled backwards in their effort to move out of Bolin's personal space. "Hey! I'm only trying to figure out if you're okay. You took quite a beating just now, and my friend's a healer. I'm sure she'd help you, just let me look you over for a minute, all right?" He caught the person's hand and drew them back into his arms, supporting their weight as they swayed. The gender of the person was still undistinguishable under the shapeless clothes and layer of dirt they had acquired, but Bolin recognized him from the previous week. "You…You're that thief from the police station! Bren, right?" Waggling his eyebrows, he smirked. "We really have to stop meeting like this. If you want to see me so badly, all you had to do was ask." The boy growled, offended enough to try to draw away again. "Oh, calm down, I was only joking. Spirits, you're touchy. My offer still stands, the one about getting you to a healer?"

"I don't need no healer," the kid spoke in city street-kid cant.

He prodded Bren's torso, noting the cringe and wince that echoed throughout his body. "Well, it's not a choice for you, buddy." He gathered the protesting boy into his arms and shushed him, noticing that something was off about the boy's left leg. When he tried to pull up the boy's pant leg to see how badly his leg had been messed up, the thief twisted his body in obvious pain to stop him from revealing his leg, regardless of how bad the leg was. He grabbed onto Bolin's face, forcing Bolin to face him.

"Do not. Touch. My leg," Bren ground out his words, adding a final word to finish the thought. "Ever."

The boy didn't want anyone to see his leg. Bolin shrugged as Bren released his face, accepting the thief's wishes for the moment. "Hey, girls?" He called to the girls from the booth. They perked up at his attention and nodded. "Do you know where Korra is? Y'know, the Avatar?" The girls shrugged, but a third girl piped up from behind them, informing Bolin that Korra had already taken the ferry back to Air Temple Island because Tenzin wanted her for air bending training. Sighing, he trudged over to the ferry, gaining passage back to his home. Wondering why his prickly partner had been quiet for the past few minutes, he glanced at his face again. The thief had passed out, presumably from the pain of the fall, although Bolin wasn't certain.

"If you can earth bend, and I know you can because you did that night at the police station, why didn't you use it to save yourself from injury?" He spoke to the boy's unconscious form. The kid was a puzzlement. He didn't look like anything special; in fact, it appeared he was doing everything he could to blend in and become invisible. The sun was beginning to set as the afternoon waned into evening and the ferry rocked into the dock on the island. The bumping of the boat against the sturdy wooden dock roused the unconscious boy into a wakeful state, because as soon as the ferry was safely tied to the poles on the dock the kid took off into the forest.

"Yue!" Bolin cursed, giving chase. "I'm trying to help you, here!"

"I tole you, I don't want no help from the likes of you!" The kid retorted over his shoulder. "It ain't none of your business where I go and how I is."

Bolin rounded the corner, knowing that Bren would have hit a dead end. Bolin had been herding him towards the cliff-side. "Ah-ha!" He jumped out, sure he'd see the boy trying to scale the soft cliff wall. Bolin froze. No one greeted him with curses or threats. No one was there at all. The boy had disappeared. He scanned the trees, hoping to spot a glimpse of the grimy teen in the leaves, but no such luck. Injured person or not, Tenzin would not like hearing that Bolin had brought a stranger to his island only to lose them in the forest. That conversation would not go well. He grit his teeth and prepared for the trek home and the verbal battle that might await him. He blinked. Of course, unless Bren did something out of line, there might not be a reason that Tenzin even find out about the intruder. The teen might just hitch a ride back to the mainland on the next ferry, and Bolin wouldn't have to deal with him anymore. He'd be worrying for nothing. He could deal with waiting another day to inform Tenzin of the event. What could happen?


	4. Chapter 4

Hello, lovelies! Please, please, PLEASE review. You, my dear readers, are part of the reason I enjoy writing this sort of thing so much. Cheers!

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"Pabu, I haven't seen Bren in three days, on the island or the mainland. Maybe he went back home?" Bolin stroked his fire ferret's scruff, enjoying the animal's silky fur. "I hope so. Nothing seems to have gone mysteriously missing…well; at least no one has complained about anything going missing." He nibbled on the edge of his thumb thoughtfully as he set his pet down on the dewy morning grass. "I'm going to go do one more run through of the forest to double check." He'd been given the day off to do with as he pleased, thanks to the surplus of diligent workers and the lack of building work. Pabu chuffed at him, rolling over on the ground as his tongue lolled out of his mouth playfully. Bolin stood, groaning as his muscles protested moving from his comfortable place on the ground. Ignoring the slight strain, he sashayed into the forest quietly so as not to disturb anything that might be living in the thick woods. Pabu raced ahead of him, having played many times into the woods. Once in a while, the ferret glanced back at his friend, expecting him to follow. Bolin laughed cheerfully at Pabu's impatient expression and hurried to catch up to him. After ten minutes of patrolling, Pabu stood stock still on his hind legs and sniffed the air. He chirped and dashed into the bush, leaving Bolin to delicately hack his way through the dense brush without severely damaging the landscape.

"Pabu, what's the matter with you? Your tiny body may be able to fit through tiny spaces like that, but mine isn't suitable for things like this! I have too much gorgeous muscle," he called at the ferrets retreating form. Sighing, Bolin worked as quickly as possible to catch up to the speedy ferret, occasionally telling him to slow down, or wait up. He froze as he heard a piercing yell from just beyond his line of vision. Disregarding his intent to be as least damaging as possible, he bulled through the bushes and trees, digging up small plants as he dug his feet into the ground to find the owner of the scream.

"Pabu!" Bolin nearly fell on top of a small body that was clutching at their shirt. Dusting himself off, he realized that Pabu had found Bren.

"He…He's in my shirt!" Bren twitched as Pabu moved further into his shirt. "Gah!"

"Ah, he's just looking for warmth. No big deal!"

"You're not the one with a fire ferret in their shirt!"

"Well, now, neither are you!" Bolin reached down Bren's shirt and tugged Pabu free of the clothing. "There, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Bren blinked at him with wide eyes, an angry red blush blooming across his cheeks. "Pabu wasn't going to hurt you, he's a sweetheart!"

"I know. I mean, he's visited me before. Is that his name, Pabu?" Bren tickled the ferret's head as Pabu trilled in happiness. "I just weren't expecting somat to jump down my shirt. It ain't something that usually happens to me, y'know?" He seemed to realize that he was acting relaxed around the person who had been chasing him three days earlier and moved into a defensive position. "You ain't going to take me back to the mainland. I been good here, I ain't stolen nothing from you. There's plenty to eat in this here forest, berries and roots and the like. You can't make me go back there until I'm good and ready and I ain't. If you try, I'll jus' disappear again, I'm good at that." Bren harrumphed, glaring feistily into Bolin's eyes.

Bolin held up his hands in surrender. "As long as you don't steal anything, I don't think anyone would mind you being here. Just in case, though, I'm not going to mention you to anybody, so stay out of sight until you decide that you want to go back to the mainland. Everyone here is so kind, I'm certain you'd explode from being around too much niceness, you sour-puss."

Bren stuck out his tongue at Bolin and withdrew into the forest, casting one last snide parting glare over his shoulder as he disappeared into the woods. Pabu mewed for Bolin to pick him up and glanced longingly at the space where Bren had gone. Bolin held Pabu up in front of his face, letting Pabu's back legs dangle free. "How'd you become friends with him when I haven't even seen him for the last three days?"

Shaking his head, he placed Pabu around his shoulders and headed back for the edge of the forest, contemplating the mysterious boy. Bren wasn't that little boy-ish. He was probably around Bolin's age but he was much smaller and skinnier than any other teen their age so he seemed younger. Bolin had felt bandages around Bren's upper torso when he was grabbing for a squirmy Pabu, but he'd felt something else on his lower torso. Something like hardened tissue from many, many scars. They weren't the clean, neat scars of someone who had surgery or cut themselves because they were depressed. They were jagged, rough scars of someone who'd had to fight hard for their right to life. Why would a boy-thief have gone through anything so terrible to gather scars like those? He seemed to have healed himself from his fall a few days ago, too. He'd seemed awfully and unusually embarrassed when Bolin had had his hand down the front of his shirt. Bolin was left wondering how things were going to turn out, yet again.


	5. Chapter 5

Ehehehe, serious things are starting to happen! I actually managed to create a cliffhanger this time, guys! 3

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"That's odd," Pema commented as she opened and shut her many drawers in the kitchen while simultaneously balancing her newborn baby boy on her hip. "The filleting knife I had set out has disappeared. Have any of you seen it?" She directed her question to the multitude of kids and teenagers alike sitting around a large table.

"Why would you have a filleting knife? I thought Air Temple people didn't eat meat," Korra questioned.

"I was going to use it to peel vegetables, since someone," Pema directed a look at Meelo, "decided to use the actual peeler as a pick to dig for buried treasure." One by one, starting with a bashful Meelo and ending with a grinning Korra, everyone shook their head. Pema's brow furrowed in confusion and annoyance. "Well, if anyone comes across it, please bring it back to the kitchen, as I assume it'll need to be washed."

A chorus of "Yes, Ma'am" and "Will do" answered her as the group vacated the breakfast table to go about their daily activities. Bolin decided to head outside to see if Bren knew anything about the missing knife, but Pema grabbed ahold of his shoulder and spun him around. "Bolin, if you happen to spot Tenzin while you're out and about, will you tell him that he's sorely missed and I would be most obliged if he'd meet me in the library when he has a chance." She smiled and released his shoulder, allowing him to spin back around.

"How'd you know I was going outside?"

"I just assumed, I mean, you've been spending most of your mornings outside recently, haven't you? Have you met someone?"

"Met someone? What? Who, me? Why would you ask?" Bolin started babbling, worrying that Pema had found about his little thief he was harboring. He shut his mouth, blushing uncomfortably as he realized her intent. "Oh. You were just teasing."

She gave him a queer look. "Yes, yes, I was. Have you actually-?"

"I've…I've got to go, all right? I'll send Tenzin in to you if I see him. Bye, Pema!" He whistled for Pabu as he made a speedy exit. "Here, boy!" The fire ferret didn't automatically join him, so he assumed Pabu was already outside.

A few times in the last week Bolin had caught glimpses of Bren flitting throughout the forest. The thief had made it obvious that he'd become good friends with Pabu. Pabu would disappear for hours and come back content with shiny, well-brushed fur and a full belly. One time, he came back with a mini fire ferret carved out of a tree branch. Bolin had left a basket of miscellaneous foodstuffs in the clearing where he'd rescued Pabu from Bren's shirt as thanks for Bren's kindness to his pet. The basket had disappeared into the ground a few moments after he'd left it sitting unattended in the grass. Bolin had hidden himself in the nearby bushes, hoping to find a chance to talk to the mysterious teen. He ended up disappointed. Bren was skilled in sneakiness, a must-have skill for a thief; Bolin wasn't so lucky to have that particular gift. His sheer brawniness meant that he was built for power and sustenance, not subtleness. Either way, Bren had gotten away without a word.

Bolin exited the temple at a trot with Pabu chirping madly at his heels. Pabu was tugging him towards the forest as though he had something urgent to show Bolin. "Hey there, little buddy! I'm coming, I'm coming," he smiled gently down at his cheerful pet. At the entrance of the forest, Pabu took off, leaving Bolin in the dust to catch up to the speedy fire ferret. "Oy! Wait up! Didn't we go through this last time?" He stumbled over a tree root and landed clumsily on his callused hands. Brushing pine needles off his knees he continued tracking Pabu deeper into the woods. As he moved, the smell of blood started to seep into his senses, like a spirit in the corner of his vision. He hoped it was the smell of a hunting catch, but as he got closer to Pabu the cloying smell seemed to stick to everything in a manner that smelt like death. Pabu continued chirping urgently, motioning with his nose to the clearing where Bolin and Bren had met a week earlier.

Brushing trees and plants aside, Bolin charged through the forest, determined to find the source of the smell of blood. The vision he saw before him made him stop cold; he almost passed out. He probably would have fainted had he not known that if he gave in to the lightheadedness, Bren might die. Bren's body was piled lopsidedly on the grass near the base of a willow tree, blood pooling out of the back of his neck, slipping sluggishly out of a deep gash below his hairline. It was as if he'd been trying to get something out of his body, something that wasn't meant to be there.

"Spirits…What'd you do to yourself, Bren?" Bolin knelt next to Bren's motionless body, searching for any sign of life. Bren's breaths were shallow but still there, and his pulse wasn't as weak as it should have been for a normal person. _Move him, or go get Korra? Both? _"Stay with me, okay? Pabu wouldn't be too happy with me if you died like this…Died at all, for that matter."

"Put…Put me down. I'm fine," Bren struggled feebly as Bolin picked up the frail boy into his arms.

Frowning anxiously at the injured boy, Bolin shook his head as he picked up Pema's filleting knife from the bloody river that was starting to flow around his feet. "Obviously, you're completely fine. That's why you're collapsed in a puddle of Bren-ness, yeah? Come on, I'm taking you to Korra. No if's and's or but's about it."

"No!" Bren shouted, startling Bolin with his loudness despite his lack of blood. "It's not…safe. Put me down. I need to get this thing out of…" He passed out cold, his body folding quickly enough that Bolin nearly dropped him. Rushing ahead of Pabu, he took care not to jostle the boy's head around, lest he paralyze him because of the damage he'd done to his neck. Spirits only know how bad the damage is, with Bren digging around in his neck with a cooking knife.

He exited the forest, spying Tenzin down by the docks, intensely debating with someone. "Tenzin! Have you seen-" He never got the chance to finish his sentence. A blast of fire flew at him from Tenzin's visitor's black plated hands, forcing him to dive to the side or be fried like his favorite food.


	6. Chapter 6

You readers are so kind to me! This chapter gets a lot more violent, beware~ Thing's might be a bit confusing, but a lot will be explained in the next chapter, which I'll get out here tomorrow. Cheers!

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Bolin nosedived towards the hard ground, rolling in his fall so that Bren wouldn't be crushed under his weight. "What was that for?" He cried, watching a young tree behind him crisp in the flame that was meant for him.

"You have something that belongs to me," the man grinned cruelly through thin lips. "I came to get it back." He motioned for a group of burly men to ascend the stone stairs leading from the dock to the temple. They stared Bolin and Tenzin down menacing, awaiting further orders from their boss. "A pity you chose to lie to me, Master air bender. You'd have been a lot more entertaining as an ally, but what can one such as I do when such a display of defiance is shown?"

Tenzin moved forwards to apprehend the black-clad stranger, but was halted as one of the guards dragged Meelo out from behind his cloak. Meelo's small limbs had been bound with rock so he couldn't air bend and fear was plainly visible on his round, youthful face.

Clearing his throat to gain the stranger's attention once again, Tenzin spoke clearly. "I promise you, I did not lie. I was unaware of this person's presence on my island. Please, release Meelo. He has nothing to do with adult's quarrels."

The stranger chuckled, the sound keening and low in his throat. Bolin's skin crawled at the harsh sound and he clutched Bren tighter to his chest. The stranger parted his lips in a chilling smile towards Bolin and Bren, almost mocking the pair. "Time for you to revisit your cell, number Eighty-Seven. Father wants you back."

Bren roused at his words, staring straight up at Bolin with clear eyes, untarnished by pain or fear.

"I said come here, insolent girl!"

"Girl?" Bolin squeaked, staring down at the person he held in his arms. She turned her face away from him so he couldn't look into her eyes and clenched her jaw.

The stranger sneered at him. "Shows how much you knew about your little visitor. You didn't even know she was a girl! Not that that _thing_ deserves the title of being a girl. It would be an easy mistake to make, with her body covered in rags and dirt, and her hair tied up under that hideous, louse-harboring thing she calls a hat." He spat on the ground. "_Obey_ me, or you'll be a deathwalker!" He pointed a finger towards the unresponsive girl and a spark flew from his finger, landing on her arm and lancing up to her neck.

Bren's body went rigid. Electricity radiated dangerously out from the gash in her neck as the fire-bender's spark activated something within her body. "If you won't come with me willingly, I'll make you beg for me to take you back to father, you brat!" She pushed out of Bolin's arms despite his reaction to tighten his grip on her. She stumbled towards the man as Bolin protested, but he was unable to move; she'd locked his feet into the earth with earth bending. The man grabbed her by her neck and the electricity stopped. "Good little monster, brat." He ran his finger along the hole in the back of her neck. "I see you tried to cut out your tracker," he jeered, "Really, good job! You must be going soft, to pass out from such a little wound. We'll soon cure you of that, again."

Smiling wide-eyed and overly-cheerfully at her captor, Bren waved at the men-at-arms he'd brought with them. "I see you've brought your little helpers, Zulan. Too scared to capture me without help?" She quipped. The muscle in his jaw twitched in anger as he shook her like a ragdoll.

"Y'know, I don't think I need to capture you at all. I'll just throw you to my pets, and see how they play with you. Life's been soft for them, since you left the compound," his voice slithered around the cliff's occupants like water on a turtle-duck's back. He dragged her over to the edge of the cliff and dropped her over the edge without a moment's hesitation.

Bolin bellowed his angry cry while continuing grinding away at the shackles keeping him from fighting against Zulan and his minions. It didn't help that even though Tenzin's hands weren't literally tied, they were chained up pretty well since the enemy had his son. Now the only reason he'd been out here in the first place was probably dead from falling several stories onto the rocky beach below the cliff.

Zulan slunk to the ground, crossing his legs and watching the show on the beach with interest in his beady eyes. He wasn't reacting as though he'd just killed someone. Bolin broke off one shackle but paused at the addition of a new sound rumbling up from below. Insane laughter split through the air and crashed into Bolin, giving him enough adrenaline to break the other earth shackle. Dashing to the side of the cliff, he prepared to fight a possible army of benders. The girl on the beach wasn't the touchy thief he knew, at all. _Was she ever that person? Did I need to worry about her? She did technically get all of us into this scrape. _

"Isn't she beautiful?" Zulan sighed longingly. "I've asked Father to let me keep her for my own uses, but he insists that she's better kept as a research project. That's what she is, you know. She was created to kill the Avatar. No, that's not right; she was created to be the anti-Avatar. The perfect soldier, who'd do what they were told with no questions asked and perfect precision." He brushed a speck of dust from the shoulder of his stiff coat. "We're still working on her, obviously, but she's a grand sight to see. What do you think?"

Bolin knew he couldn't attack this man without gaining a certain death sentence for Meelo so he kept standing and watched, hoping Bren was able to hold her own against her opponent. The beach held twenty or so guardsmen, all benders of the three elements besides air. Half of those twenty were motionless and bent in odd positions already, and the other half were fighting for their lives against the wild-woman. Bren's expression was that of someone in ecstasy. Her face was streaming with her enemies' blood and her sweat mixed with her own blood on her clothes. She never stopped moving; she was like the wind itself. She pounded into the men with her earth bending, never giving them an inch to take back the obvious advantage she had over them despite her size and age. One man was trying to sneak up on her from behind as she took on three rag-tag earth benders. Bolin was about to warn her, but she spun, her foot gliding in the air and sending the three men flying as she faced the final man. She flicked her wrist, and surge of water slammed the man into the cliffside. _How…How can she water bend? I thought only the Avatar could use more than one element! _She turned her head towards the spectators and grinned a predatory grin. It was then Bolin saw her eyes. Both of her entire eyes were tainted black the way Korra's eyes went pure white while she was in the Avatar state. She was murder itself personified. _Would she turn against us now that there's no one left for her to kill?_


	7. Chapter 7

Eeek, so many readers! I love each and every one of you, and I appreciate all the feedback you guys have given me. Please, feel free to message me if anything is confusing or doesn't make sense.

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Zulan appeared more and more annoyed after each time Bren took down one of his guards. He scowled at her, showing off pointed canine teeth as he leapt from the top of the stairs to land gracefully onto his ship. Snapping his fingers, Meelo was released from his earth prison and the few guards left joined Zulan on the ship. "I see there's no point in talking to you today. Father will not be happy, Eighty-Seven. He hates it when his favorite toys are taken away from him."

She pointed her middle finger at him and shouted, "Take your trash with you!" With her muscles straining, she wove a net made out of water to pick up the corpses of the guards to pick them up. She made the net float with the bodies over the top of the ship before letting the water dissipate. The bodies rained down onto the remaining guards and crew. Curses resounded from the boat and she flounced up the stone stairs as the ship retreated into the bay. Each step she took up the stairs became more labored than the last and her eyes became less dark.

Meelo was stumbling around towards Tenzin, whom had become unfrozen as Meelo was released. He picked up his son and swung him around in the air joyously.

"I'm so, so glad you're all right, my son," Tenzin smiled. Meelo slithered out of his father's grip to run over to Bren, whom had fallen to her knees.

"Thank you for helping me, Lady." Meelo stretched out a fist for her to bump her own against. Bren smiled tiredly, reciprocating his generous gesture.

_"Don't touch him." _Bren flinched at the words, seeming to be more hurt by the reaction than any of the physical pain she'd been put through that day. Korra appeared behind her, trapping her arms in an air lock and forcing her to the ground. "Who are you, and what in Yue's name was that all about? Planning to kill me, eh?" Meelo jumped between the Avatar and Bren, fully prepared to face Korra's wrath.

"Don't hurt her, Korra! She helped me!"

"Oh, yeah?" She scoffed, "What'd she do, exactly? Kill a bunch of people who wouldn't have been here anyways if it weren't for her hiding out on our island?"

Meelo scuffed his foot along the grass and looked at his feet. "When she first saw me captive, she blindfolded me with water and used the water to make sure the earth wouldn't hurt me if it collapsed inward. She's good, I promise!" He thumped his chest with a small fist and stared her down defiantly.

"Why would you do that?" She stepped around Meelo to face Bren herself.

Shifting back up onto her knees, Bren observed emotions flit across the Avatar's face with a raised eyebrow. "It ain't right for a youngling like him to see the effects of stupid adult decisions. Murder ain't a pretty sight; it'd give 'im nightmares fer weeks. I figured I'd save 'im the mental scarring." She spotted Bolin coming up behind Korra with the oddest expression on his face. "Wadda want?" She turned her face away from him, unable to look him in the eye. He was so honest and straightforward all the time, perhaps he was unable to fathom why someone wouldn't be as good of a person as he was. "It ain't like we were friends er nothing'. I didn't ask for you to-" The last of the black drained from her eyes and she toppled over, unconscious once again. Korra caught her just before she hit the ground, letting her head gently bump the grass.

The four conscious people looked at each other blankly until Korra hoisted Bren over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "Well, we won't get anything more out of her until she's healed and rested up, so we might as well do what we can to speed that process along."

They trooped inside, tracking in the heavy atmosphere from outside into the temple so that Pema noticed and came out to see what was wrong. She was very adept at reading situations. She took control of the situation, handing Rohan to Tenzin, brushing the men and boy out of the way, and ushering Korra into a spare bedroom. "You boys stay out. This'll take a soft hand and a healers touch for her to survive the night. How'd she even get this many injuries?" Bolin opened his mouth to answer, but she waved him away. "It doesn't matter. I'm sure I'll find out later. Korra, you stay with me. She'll need your water bending and healing abilities very soon."

"Oh, so I'm supposed to heal the person who might be here to kill me?" She grumbled but caved to Pema's reproachful glance. "Fine, fine. But if she does one thing out of line, I'm caging her."

Every day while Bren was unconscious and healing, Bolin would tip-toe to the door, trying to see if she was awake. She always had at least one guard in the room with her just in case she pulled something funny, but they'd leave whenever Bolin entered the room. They knew he could handle his own if need be. Bolin never touched her, but he left the fire ferret she'd carved by her bedside and Pabu had taken up residence in the crook of her arm.

Pema and Korra had cleaned her up well, removing the layer of dirt from her skin and combing out her hair. She didn't look so boyish with rich chocolate hair down to her collarbones and a fair complexion. Her eyes were framed with thick, lush eyelashes that were dark enough that they didn't need any make up to stand out. They'd cleaned her hat and set it next to her beside for when she would wake. Her hat itself was an interesting creation, with many loops and secret pockets to hide all of her hair and anything else she might need. Even in her sleep she appeared withdrawn, as though she was hiding from the world.

"You could have told me. I'm not a bad person to trust, I swear," he whispered to her prone form. "At least, I could have helped you not make a botch of a surgery job on your neck. Spirits, I'm going to turn into a mother hen worrying about you all the time." He patted the down feather filled bed lightly. "I have so many questions for you, but I have a feeling getting any answers out of you would be like trying to pull a wolf-bat's teeth without getting bitten." Pabu squeaked at him when his hand got too close to her arm. "Pabu," he laughed, relieved for some spark of humor, "I'm sorry, is she yours? I leave her in your capable paws, then." He glanced down at her. It was weird thinking of her as a girl after thinking for months that this thief he kept running into was a boy. He liked to think his observational skills were better than that.

He exited the room as quietly as he'd entered, padding across the wooden floor with a single backward glance as he shut the door behind him. Korra and Mako were waiting to ambush him outside. Mako started talking as Korra nudged him.

"I don't think you should get too friendly with that girl, Bolin," he frowned. "We don't know anything about her besides her apparent habit of thievery. That's not getting her an A plus for stranger of the week award. Add on to that that she has an army of benders from the underworld after her; I don't think it's safe to get involved. Once she's healed, you should ask her to leave. Since you're the one who brought her here in the first place." Bolin had told them about each time he'd seen or met Bren, trying to emphasize her encounter with saving a falling toddler. "I know you think she has some good in here, and that is completely possible. We just can't take that risk right now, with Republic City still a mess from Amon's schemes and a new baby in the temple."

Bolin was about to retort an answer back to his skeptical brother and best friend, but was interrupted by the crash of breaking glass and the surprised hiss of a fire ferret. They burst through the door to find Bren awake and huddled with her back to a corner and a shard of glass in her hand to defend herself with. Wide eyed, she stared at Mako and Korra distrustfully until Bolin shoved between the pair to put a barrier between the girl and his friends. "Hey there, sleepy head." _Please don't attack each other, please don't attack each other, please don't attack each other._


	8. Chapter 8

_Ehehe, I got to use the word exterminate. I feel like a Dalek. (I know, different fandom. Too bad!) Cheers, lovely readers! 3_

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"Don't move," Bren hissed at the trio. "I don't miss when I throw something, especially not at this distance."

"Try it, sweetheart." Korra sneered at her, throwing her arms into a defensive position to protect herself if the need should arise.

Bolin sighed loudly. Diffusing the situation was going to be a lot more difficult than mere politeness could solve, especially with two hot headed benders in the same room. "Spirits…Can't you two try to calm down for a minute?"

"NO!" They turned on Bolin in unison. He ignored Korra's glare and studied Bren's eyes. There was no trace left of the black that leeched throughout the entirety of her eyes the day of the fight. Her anger and reaction at this time was wholly her own. Spirits know, anger mixed with fear can be a deadly mixture, either for the fearing or the feared. Bren traced her free hand along the fabric of the air-temple robe she had been dressed in and a look of dread came over her face. "Who changed my clothes?" She asked quietly, staring into the space above the trio's heads.

Korra's face sobered momentarily before her tough façade regained its usual place on her face. "Pema and I did. Don't worry," she glanced at the guys. "They didn't see anything." She looked intently into Bren's eyes, conveying a message beyond what her words were saying. This was one of the many times Bolin wished he had the skills that females all seem to have in mind-reading. Korra straightened her posture and offered a hand to help Bren up. "Look, as long as you don't attack us or put us into any intentional danger, it's your choice whether you stay or go. But," she hesitated as Bren glanced at her offered hand as if it were a two-headed rat viper, "I'd suggest you stay at least until your bones have knit. Some of them were already starting to re-heal badly, so they had to be broken and reset. For Yue's sake, I'm not going to murder you! I'm trying to help you to stand up and get to your bed. No one here is going to hurt you. Especially Bolin, so don't you dare take anything out on him."

The girls weren't about to start acting like kin all of a sudden with a moment's conversation, but Bren seemed to accept Korra's invitation for help after she clumsily tried and failed getting to her feet on her own, dropping the shard of glass on the floor. "I'm not going to kill you. I don't care about you enough to try. You guys ain't any danger to me." Even as she was in obvious pain, she was continuing her display of manly bravado. Pabu scrambled up her shoulders like she was a jungle gym and squeaked in her ear. A hint of a grin pulled at the corners of her lips as she stroked the ferret's ears, collapsing gratefully onto the bed.

Mako coughed, alerting the group that he had something to add to the conversation. "As great as it is that you're claiming that you're not an assassin here to exterminate us all in our sleep, sooner or later you're going to have to tell us what the hell that was all about."

"What was what all about?" Bren raised an eyebrow in feigned confusion.

"Oh, I don't know," Bolin jumped in, "The whole thing of pirates landing on the beach and you fighting off a whole garrison of benders? Then the thing where you forgot to tell me you were a girl!"

"You didn' ask. Besides, it didn' make a difference, did it? It's ain't safe for a girl to travel alone. A gent gets less noticed, even better for me if I look like I went sewer dive'n Course you know that much, yeah?" She turned her attention sheepishly to Pabu, again avoiding eye contact with Bolin. "The benders…I don't want to talk to you lot about 'em. It ain't something that y'all need to learn about. It's safer for ya in your own little pretty heads." Yanking up the covers over her head, she dislodged Pabu and he hopped from the bed, whining his displeasure at being forced to leave his post.

"Look, Tenzin is on the city council and you're talking to the Avatar. Surely we can agree that our so called 'pretty little minds' were marred long before you landed on our island," Mako sniffed, frowning petulantly.

"Whatever." She rolled over, the conversation ended on a stubborn note. She wasn't going to say anything more, at least not for now, and not to the trio.

As soon as they left, Bren sat up, draping her arms morosely around her slender legs and rested her cheek against her knees. They wanted her to talk about it. Talking about it wouldn't even come close to being able to describe her last decade of life. She barely remembered her parents, aside from their deaths when they tried to protect her from the black benders. She didn't understand the concept of familial bonds. Her parents must have known they were fighting a losing battle, and yet they'd fought to the death. She sucked on her bottom lip, deeply engrossed in her memories. The outcome would have been the same if they'd just given her up, except they'd be alive. That was obviously the decision they should have made; they'd still be alive if they hadn't been so stubborn. Some small part of her still was happy that they tried to protect her, but she squashed that emotion as much as she could. People got hurt. She shouldn't be happy about that, especially when it was people close to her. Her fingers frayed the corner of her sheets, worrying away at the loose threads. She'd had the nervous tick since she was a little girl, and it was one of the few traits she had left from her previous life, regardless of how many times she'd tried to break the habit. She removed her fingers from the cloth so she wouldn't tear hard enough into the sheets to be noticeable to the owners of the sheets. She clenched her jaw as the pain in her body from the fight and her previous fall down the stairs ate away at her mulish persistence to stay awake and bear the pain.

They thought she was here to kill them.

The thought hit her like a rush, catching her breath. Who did they think she was? Some bounty hunter, or paid murderer? She didn't kill for the mere reason that someone wanted the victim dead. From all she'd heard, the Avatar was doing the best she could to help out after the tragedy. Murdering the Avatar was the reason she was still alive and not sinking to her elbows in blood (either her own or the ones intending to kill her), but that was someone else's desire forced upon her. She didn't like having things forced upon her. Especially when it comes from Father and that idiotic son of his, Zulan. But, if nothing else, she couldn't let anyone hurt Bolin. She did owe him, like it or not. He was an odd turtle-duck, but obviously kindhearted to a fault.

Her ribs crunched painfully with even the slightest breath. She was tempted to punch something, but she'd only injure herself further. She wouldn't have fallen that day on the stairs had it not been a public place. She crumpled her fist against her chest, trying to alleviate the pain of her cracked ribs with pressure. When she was a black bender, she could regain her balance from a small swat from some misplaced two-by-fours as though it was a kiss from a butterfly. People were around the day Bolin caught her, though, and she didn't want anyone asking any questions about how a mere thief-boy hadn't fallen down after being decked in the head. The one thing she hadn't expected was that anyone would try to catch her, let alone get her to a healer. She looked like a dirty street rat, for Yue's sake! What type of person doesn't ignore a beggar child like most people do? She'd planned on crumbling in a heap near the corner of the stairs and licking her wounds in private after she would have regained consciousness. A small issue like that wouldn't have been a problem, considering that she'd go through the black bending rings every week, sometimes more than once a week. Seeing as she was still alive after ten years of being in the rings, she must have quite a high price on her head now that she escaped. Her bones creaked and groaned at her as she slowly sank back against the sheets. _Coward. I'm a coward. What have I turned into?_ _Running away from pain like a novice fighter flinching as a fist came at them for the first time. _Pain enveloped her body as she swiped a hand over her face, the hurt settling over her like a red haze before she relinquished her body to sleep in hopes to avoid the pain. She decided that the dreams would be painful enough to make up for the physical pain she was going to miss out on in her sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

Lovelovelove~ You lot are gorgeous and I LOVE YOU. I appreciate every word I hear from you, my dear readers. 3 I'll continue updating as much as possible.

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The trio had left the room quietly, but that fake peace dissolved as soon as they were out of earshot. "Bolin, is there something wrong with your brain? What were you thinking?"

Bolin grimaced sheepishly. "I thought…When I brought her over here to heal, I didn't know she'd take off like-"

"Exactly my point!" Mako interrupted, a scowl growing across his face and annoyance in his demeanor. "You didn't think, Bolin, and you could have gotten us all killed. As it was, you gave Meelo and Tenzin a fright. Pema had to make him her special 'calming' tea, and you know how much he _loves_ that tea."

"Sarcasm doesn't suit you, brother of mine," Bolin waved away his concerns with a flip of his hand. "If you're that worried, I'll guard her day and night until she leaves."

Korra laughed and Bolin turned to face her. "What?"

"Oh, so the thief who evaded your 'help' earlier by escaping into the forest couldn't do the exact same thing again? Not to mention she might be a master assassin along with being a thief. Sorry, Bo, but you're going to have to do better than that to convince anyone that it's a good idea for her to stay here," she shook her head. "I will admit, though, wherever she goes there's bound to be trouble until the matter is resolved. The civilians might be safest if she were to stay on Air Temple island so the band of benders left from the one that she slaughtered don't decide to ransack Republic City while it's still healing just to get to Bren. If that's even her real name." Korra thumbed her chin thoughtfully. "It's decided. She stays. But we have to convince Tenzin. I'll bet I can get Pema on our side, though, she's seen Bren's-" She flushed, stopping herself before she gave away the very thing she'd promised Bren that she wouldn't talk about.

"Seen Bren's what? What's the big problem with Bren's body that she doesn't want us to know about it?" Mako questioned.

"Listen, wise-guy," Korra got into his face, shoving Bolin out of the way. "Some things a girl has a right to keep to herself. If anyone tells you, it better be her. Don't go bothering Pema, either. We both follow the same 'girl-code.' You'd have better luck getting a firebender to water bend."

"But you can-"

"Shush. Listen to my words. Don't look for exceptions to what I'm saying."

"Yes, ma'am."

Bolin separated from the group, leaving Korra and Mako to do whatever the two of them do in their alone time. He wandered the halls of the temple listlessly, letting his mind remain as blissfully blank as long as possible.

"Hey, Bolin! Good to see you!" A cheerful voice echoed off the walls behind him from the entrance of the temple. He was tackled in a rush of limbs and lush dark curls.

"Asami! Are you back, then? And not just for a visit?" He embraced the woman, glad to have someone who wasn't a current physical threat or wishing to lecture him. "You wouldn't believe what happened while you were away." He realized how drained his voice sound, and apparently Asami did, as well.

"You'll have to tell me about it. But first, let's go sit down, my feet are killing me." She had a twinkle of kindness in her eyes. Bolin knew that she never complained about her feet hurting, not even after wearing those painful-looking spikey heels that fashionable girls wear. He was grateful of her sympathetic gesture and he willfully accepted. After Mako had traded Asami for Korra, the two broken hearts that resulted had comforted each other with empathy and lots of trips to the noodle restaurant. There had been a silent agreement that they would remain friends, regardless of everything around them. Over time, the two of them got over their past romances and looked to better things. Just before she'd left for her trip Asami had found out that there was mutual interest between the young Iroh and herself. The two were working on creating a long distance relationship. It hadn't been decided whether that relationship would be platonic or romantic, but Bolin would bet Mako's scarf that it would turn into something more than a coffeehouse friendship. Those long nights playing Pai Sho were just a lead in, he was sure.

They strolled to the sitting area and Bolin filled her in on all of Bren's exploits throughout the time she was gone. At the end of the story, she knew as much as Bolin did about the girl, including Scoochy's information and theories. At the end of it all, she rocked back in her chair and was silent for a few minutes as she processed everything that Bolin had spilled to her. Bolin waited expectantly for a response, whether negative or positive. "Well, you were reckless; I don't blame Mako and Korra for worrying about you." She took her time responding, mulling her words over to gain the perfect tactical advantage overreach syllable that left her mouth. She could think quickly when she wanted to, but in serious issues that don't require her immediate attention she tended to take as long as possible to answer. Maybe that was why she was such a good Pai Sho player. "But I think you made a decision that reflected well upon your character. I can't imagine you making a different choice, not when someone was hurt as badly as Bren was or at least seemed to be. You honestly didn't know she was a girl when you brought her here? I would think it would be rather obvious," she mused. "But then, some people are excellently skilled in the art of disguises and trickery. She must have excellent bindings to be able to hide her chest, unless she didn't have that much to hide."

"Chest? Oh, lord." Bolin blushed profusely.

"What?" Asami raised a curious eyebrow.

"I-When I still thought she was a guy, I reached down her shirt to grab Pabu because he was looking for warmth and she was the closest warm thing he found. She froze, so I grabbed him out. Of her shirt. I thought I'd brushed something unusual…I'd assumed it was bandages from her injuries. I never even considered-" His mouth worked furiously, opening and closing as he realized that her gender was more obvious than he'd first thought. "That's why she blushed when I did that. Spirits, she didn't even slap me! She could have told me, then, and then this all could have been avoided." He slammed his head against the chair in frustration.

"Of course she couldn't have slapped you! That would have given away her cover of being a guy. She's obviously very smart. It is a lot safer to travel as a man than a woman. She's about your age, right? I could see how that could be a problem. Plus, the pirate people were looking for a teenage girl, not a young boy. Smart, fierce fighter…I can't wait to meet this girl. Do you think I could?" Asami looked into his eyes hopefully.

Bolin shook his head. "Not tonight, I don't think she wants any more visitors. Korra, Mako, and I kind of got on her nerves earlier. Maybe tomorrow, when you're both rested." Asami agreed, and the pair chatted a while longer about Asami's travels and Republic City's progress. She was working on rebuilding her father's company's reputation after her father was arrested for being a violent, enabling Amon follower. She seemed to be succeeding in some aspects, but for every step forward she took, she said that it seemed she was forced to take two backwards. The two parted after an hour so Asami could unpack and rest. Bolin took to wandering the halls again, ending back up in front of Bren's room. It seemed the guards had been relieved of guard duty, mainly because Bren was awake and could probably kill anything that might try to harm her. It was important that she stay here because she didn't feel like a prisoner.

He shuffled to the door and cracked it open to check on her. Pabu used the crack to force his way into the room, dashing over to the bed to jump on top of the bed and curl up near her head, licking the girl's nose frantically. Her face was taut with pain and her eyes were rolling beneath her eyelids in the agonized throes of a nightmare. Bolin rushed to her bedside, unsure of what to do. If he woke her up, she might mistake him for something from the nightmare and attack him. If he didn't, she'd… He touched her shoulder, shaking her as gently as possible so as not to jar her bones. He assumed she liked nightmares about the same as he did; not at all. Her eyes flashed open at his touch and they darted back and forth swiftly. She retched violently from the pain, so Bolin caught her and held her head over a trash bin he procured from beneath the bedside table. He didn't risk holding her in his arms, but he pulled her hair away from her face. When she finished throwing up, she turned jelly-boned and slid against Bolin's shoulder. Her entire body tensed as she realized moments later what she was doing and she flung herself back and nearly would have cracked her head against the headboard of the bed had Bolin not kept a grip on her shoulders to steady her.

"Whoa, girl, it's just me. Are you-"

"What in Yue's name are you doing in my bedroom?"

He blinked. "O-oh, Pabu snuck in, so I came to grab him and stop him from bothering you but I saw you look like you were having a bad dream, so I tried to wake you and I'm sorry if that was creepy but I didn't want you to be scared so…" He trailed off. She bit her lip and let out a very unladylike snort of derision.

"You're a bad liar."

"I'll do better next time."

"You better. You should leave, though. I'll be fine. Pabu can stay, if he wants," she nodded at the fire ferret.

"What was that dream about? It didn't seem too happy, if you don't mind me saying."

"Not something I wish to discuss. Thank you for your intention. I…I should sleep, now." She rolled slowly and painfully onto her side. Bolin sighed inwardly and tucked the sheets up around her shoulders.

"G'night. I'll come check on you tomorrow." He turned as he started shutting the door and announced, "Someone else wants to meet you, as well. I think you two will get along. I hope. Maybe tomorrow you'll feel well enough to see her?"

"Whatever." She listened for his footsteps to recede. After he had left, she turned to face the door. "Thank you," she murmured, cuddling Pabu close to her chest. She wasn't quite sure if her words were for Pabu or Bolin. She didn't plan on dwelling on the chilling thought that she might have to thank someone.


	10. Chapter 10

Wow, sorry this one took so long, lovely people! I've been busy with work. To make up for it, this chapter is a longer one and there's a bit of fluff. Thoughts?

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Her grip on the rusted metal slats and slick wooden bars of the cage slipped painfully as she hauled herself upright in the hanging prison. She was back in the birdcage; she must've been captured. _No_. She roared her fury into the dehumidified air, causing the guards to bang relentlessly on the gong meant to cause headaches severe enough to quiet the most bothersome inmate. She'd been there for years, though. _Didn't they know who they were dealing with? If they expect me to quiet down just because of the sound, they're sorely mistaken. _Her voice dropped off as she hacked and coughed as pressure gathered in her lungs. _Had they poisoned the air? Did they bring me back to the underground only to kill me off in private? _She pounded on the rungs of the cage, bloodying her hands in a manic attempt for escape. Zulan's face sneered down at her, giving her the urge to spit on the man's face until she spotted Father next to him with a flat grimace exuding disgust.

"Take her."

Gasping, she flailed her arms wildly as she bolted upright, dislodging Pabu from his resting place on her chest. He chattered at her, pausing when he saw she was in a state between wakefulness and the realm of nightmares. She drew her arms around herself to stop herself from shivering, allowing Pabu to fondly nuzzle her cheek. Her bones were still complaining at her motion, but she'd healed herself with waterbending throughout the night. Swift healing tactics were something she'd been forced to learn quickly; injured fighters don't last as long in the ring. Her bones and muscles were well-knit and mostly pain-free, thanks to Pema and Korra's help. They'd helped her enough. She had no desire to kill the Avatar, regardless of Zulan's inane fixation on the death of a symbol of hope, but neither did she want to become acquainted with the girl-warrior who was, in a way, responsible for her upbringing and fighting tendencies. It was time for her to leave.

Slithering out of her nightshirt, she padded over to a chest of drawers and pulled out a garment from the top. It was a long shirt for a tall man, but it became a dress on her petite frame. Cinching a belt around her waist to hold the shirt in place, she forwent pants as the shirt covered enough of her body that was appropriate.

Turning the knob on her door, she was pleased to find that it was unlocked. Keeping to the shadows of the early morning darkness as much as possible, she wove her way through the temple's intricate pathway of halls only to find herself back where she started. Sighing, she began again. Her sense of direction wasn't very useful when it came to places she'd never been before. Her new path took her directly through Bolin's path. When he spotted Bren, his eyes lit up with childlike happiness.

"Bren! I'm so glad you're feeling better! Did you sleep well?" He grasped her hand in a gentle grip, his hand dwarfing hers in size. He tugged her along with him through the halls as he strode purposefully towards a room emitting a delicious scent. "Come on, everyone wants to meet you! What better time to do it than at breakfast?"

_Why do I have the bad luck to get stuck with a morning person? _She allowed Bolin to propel her into the bright room only to freeze at the number of people in the room. It seemed that Bolin would have been the last to arrive besides her, as Korra, Mako, Tenzin, Pema, and a whole host of children and other unknown people were awaiting their appearance. _People. So many people. Why were they all looking at her? Did she look weirder than usual?_

"Everyone, this is Bren; I'm sure those of you who haven't met her yet were dying for a glimpse of the super-girl who took out the pirates." Bolin nodded to Bren for her to continue the introduction, but she kept her mouth firmly closed. Rolling his eyes, Bolin continued, "She decided to join us for breakfast. You know most of these people, Bren," he turned to face the frozen girl and finish introducing her to the people at the table. "Over there is Asami, she's next to Tenzin and Pema's other three kids besides Meelo; Jinora, Rohan, and Ikki. You can sit between me'n Mako, all right?" He took hold of her shoulders and guided her to the open spot before pushing her down onto a cushion and pouring her a glass of juice.

"Mako, could you warm the tea, please?" Tenzin deliberately avoided looking at Bren as he spoke. "And have any of you seen Meelo this morning?"

"I'm right here!" The rambunctious child raced into the room on an air-scooter, running smack dab into Mako as he was releasing a wave of fire to heat the tea. The fire dodged out of Mako's hands, landing on Bren and burning through the layer of fabric protecting her legs from view of the public. She tumbled backwards, scrabbling desperately against the floor as she tried to put out the cinders of her shirt as she toppled the breakfast table in her need to escape.

"I-I…" She ran out of the room as fast as her legs were capable of taking her, blood flushing her cheeks with embarrassment. Their faces were gaping at her. Pema's face merely showed worry and Korra's face stayed emotionless, but everyone else was petrified in shock.

"Bren!" She could hear Bolin excusing himself from the chaos that ensued in the room after she sprinted. "Bren, wait up! I just want to make sure you're okay!"

Ignoring his intentions, whatever they could be, she dove into the forest, crashing through the dense bush. Uncaring about scratches or the feeling of the plants as she accidentally crushed them, she fumbled through the brush until she collided with a huge white form. She squeaked as the beast roared at her and turned to run the same way she'd come, only to tackle Bolin.

She scrambled to her knees to try to continue running away from every living being that might stop her mortified getaway, but she was halted as Bolin grasped her wrists and rolled them over to trap Bren's body with his own.

"Stop it," he grit out through clenched teeth. Bren was struggling mightily against his grip, despite her small stature. "Let me check your leg! I won't hurt you, I promise. I just want to help you heal it!"

She was deciding whether or not to smash the boy-man off of her with an earth blast, but as she didn't sense malice from his demeanor, despite the position he had her in. That didn't mean that she wasn't going to continue trying to escape his grasp. She kept wriggling until Bolin pulled both of her wrists above her head and held them there with a single hand. "Don't make me sit on you," he warned her. "I'm trying to help!"

"Says the guy pinning me down with his sheer mass," Bren grumbled. "I'm fine, I swear! Lemme go. It ain't hurtin' me!" She arched against him, attempting to get him to back off.

"Stop squirming, you're making it harder for both of us," he grumbled as he reached down to the burned portion of her clothes and pulled at the cinders of fabric. His hand brushed something solid where her leg should be and swiftly removed his hand from her leg. Keeping a firm grip on her wrists so she couldn't smack him, he raised the bottom of her shirt-dress so he could see how badly the fire had burned her, seeing as it was hardened like a callous. Bren turned her head away as he stared down relentlessly at her left leg, comparing it to the untouched right leg. Her left leg…

"What happened?" He mumbled softly. Her left leg was completely made out of solid stone, but as smooth as a normal leg. The stone joined her body at a stump close to the top of where her thigh would be. The stump seemed to be completely made out of scar tissue from what looked like a severe burn. Her right leg was normal, save from a few battle scars. "Who did this to you?"

"Seen enough?" Bren spat, again wrenching in his grip, only this time successfully throwing him off of her. He landed rather painfully against a tree, knocking the wind out of him momentarily. Naga raced to his side, concerned. She barked her annoyance at Bren, but Bren had stood up and was glaring at Bolin. Her irises were completely black, the same way they had been when she was fighting. "That's what happens when a firebender decides that you'd look better without a fourth limb. I killed him, but they couldn't reattach a leg to the burned tissue; it had cauterized the wound too swiftly. I earth bended myself a leg to get around on, and I do say it has become rather refined in the last few months. You don't get it, do you? I'm not _like_ you and your friends. Your pretty little lives were nothing like mine. You never had to kill to survive. Hell, I doubt you've had to kill, ever." She hesitated slightly before continuing in a softer tone. "I never made friends, since I'd be forced to kill them in a few days or months' time. You haven't had an entire organization expecting you to 'fulfill your destiny' by killing a rather innocent human being. The only reason that they haven't eradicated me yet is that they're still expecting me to go berserk and slay Korra." She held up a finger to stop Bolin from speaking when he opened his mouth to interrupt. "Luckily for you, my goals and their goals are rather opposing ideas. They want me to slay Avatar Korra, while _I_ want to dismantle their entire organization. I'd settle for killing Zulan and Father, though, as long as justice was served to the rest of the society." She waited for Bolin to process the information she'd tossed at him.

"You must have been lonely."

_What?_ That wasn't the response she was expecting.

He continued. "You're right; I couldn't imagine having to kill other people to survive. The most I've done is knock out some bad guys, but I've had friends to help me in times of need. Friends and family were what got me through life, especially my brother Mako. He basically raised me. Who knows where I'd be without him?" He rubbed the back of his head thoughtfully as he got to his feet. The black was draining from her eyes as he spoke, and she looked more and more taken aback. "It must have been difficult for you, getting this far all by yourself," he chewed his lip thoughtfully. "If you'll have me, I'd like to be your friend. I won't hurt you. I promise I won't fight you in a death match, either." He grinned boyishly.

"I…I…" She blinked at the sudden change in atmosphere. "I'll have to…think on it," she coughed, heat coming in waves off of her cheeks as she stared down at the ground. "Apologize to the people at breakfast for me, please. And next time, warn me that your brother is a firebender, all right?" She flounced into the forest without a backwards glance.

He stood there silently staring after her until Naga licked his cheek, waking him from his self-induced stupor. He'd realized two things since pinning her down on the forest floor; one, she was definitely a girl. Two, it appeared that the clothes left in the guest room didn't include the necessary chest bindings. He ran a hand over his face, suddenly exhausted and slightly giddy.


	11. Chapter 11

This chapter is a bit dialogue heavy, but Bren explains a piece of what exactly Blackbending is. Oh, and thank you ever so much for all the reviews and PMs and advice all of you lovely people have bestowed upon me. Cheers, loves~

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Bolin made it back to the temple and relayed Bren's apology to the other occupants of the Island. They expressed that they merely worried for her welfare and that there was no real harm done otherwise. Barely twenty minutes after he'd returned the front doors were smashed open with a gale of water and stone.

"Why would you tell the ferry people not to take me back to the city? I am not your captive!" Bren snarled into the hallway. "I could easily water bend my way back to Republic City!"

Tenzin calmly met her fury with logic, peering out the door and sighing. "But you're not going to, are you? It'd draw too much unwanted attention. We can't let you go back to the city until this issue between you and the attackers from the other day is resolved. If we permitted you to, you'd be a much easier target there. Innocent people could get caught in the crossfire. As a councilmember, that would be ignoring what is best for the people. Your enemies could cause momentous amounts of damage that the city could not repair at this time, seeing as we just got through Amon's attack." He sighed again. "Could you please release the White Lotus Guards? I'm certain they pose no current threat to you."

Bolin crept from behind the chair he'd taken residence behind at the sound of the door smashing open and peered out the open doors. A group of imprisoned Lotus Guards were looking decidedly dejected and weary from their apparently recent battle. Bren had taken them down with barely any effort; they were stuck to the ground and the pillars of the front walkway with continuously growing clay shackles. Bren growled under her breath and stomped her foot once, releasing the poor guards from their bindings. They immediately tried again to apprehend her, but she slammed the front doors in their face, effectively stopping their intent to capture her. They banged on the doors, but everyone ignored them except Tenzin, who informed them through a window that everything was under control and that they could leave.

"Let me go."

"No." He paused. "For that matter, why does it matter to you? You need to heal more, anyways, before you can go fight the pirates again."

"They're not pirates, they're Black Probenders. Just like I used to be," she winced as she held up a warning hand to stop Mako from creeping up alongside her. "No, you stay over there. You've done enough damage for one day, thank you," her voice rang out, surprising Bolin with the power in her voice despite her injuries.

Mako threw up his hands in surrender (or possibly defense; It was hard to tell). "I just wanted to ask if you were all right. It must have hurt terribly…?"

Bren tugged her clothes in a swift, nervous movement. She'd sewn the two halves of the burned cloth back together with a stem of some sort. "I am perfectly all right. I don't need anyone's annoying persistence when it comes to my well-being. Just stay away from me, and we won't have any quarrel."

"It seems you've lost your street-cant way of speaking," Tenzin noted aloud.

She flushed, retorting, "I din' lose nothin'. I just chose when to speak 'ow I loike when I loike." With just a word from Tenzin, the burr of her city accent came back stronger than ever. Bolin wondered which her usual way of speaking was, seeing as she'd switched flawlessly between the two very distinct ways of talking. "I need a way off'r this hunk o' rock. You don't got 'ny use for me 'ere, so I'll jes' be on my way, no trouble 'appening."

Tenzin crossed his arms stubbornly and spoke with a mulish clenching of the jaw. "There's no use for you being in Republic City, either. Unless you could come up with a reason that would convince me otherwise…" He left the ending of the sentence open in hopes that Bren would fill the silence. With what, Bolin was unsure, but he assumed that he wasn't expecting too much out of the odd girl. That was when Pema decided to peek out from behind Tenzin, cradling Rohan in her arms.

"I hear I have you to thank for saving Meelo," she smiled endearingly at Bren, causing her to blush furiously and look down at the ground, glancing up only to glimpse Rohan's smiling baby face. "Please, if there's anything we can do to help you, let us know. We won't be the ones to hurt you."

Bren coughed uneasily and turned her head away from the faces looking at her expectantly. "I'm sorry for bringin' trouble to yer home, ma'am. I will…I will try ter explain the position I'm to be in, if'n it's the only way fer me to get back to the City. I got pressin' issues that need takin' care of." In her opinion, children were meant to be protected. Not from the world, just from severe physical and mental harm or complete doom. She gestured towards the sitting area. "I'll answer two questions. No more than that." Everyone seemed momentarily stunned at her sudden change in attitude, but they soon trickled over into the sitting room to await answers. No one said anything for a few seconds, but Bolin decided to break the silence by chiming in.

"What're your pressing issues back in the City?"

She responded without hesitation. "One, the Black Probenders. Two, there's a family I'm sort of…Watching over. With the black benders in town, their need for protection rises a hundredfold. You have one more question." She spoke matter-of-factly, but she belied her confident tone of voice by not looking at anyone directly in their eyes. Tenzin glared at Bolin for using up one of the questions. He shrugged apologetically and grinned, motioning for Tenzin to ask a question of his own.

"What is Black Probending?"

"Black Probending? Could you make that question any more general?" She scoffed. "Well, you already know what probending is, seeing as you keep company with three members of a bending team. Blackbending is a grim version of probending. You can either join on your own, or you can be forced to fight, much like dogfighting rings in the caves of the Earth Kingdom." She glanced meaningfully at the children in the room and jerked her head at them, non-verbally telling them to skedaddle. Meelo opened his mouth to argue, but Jinora and Ikki dragged him with them on their way out. "And don't listen through the walls. I'll know it." They froze as their shoulders drooped dejectedly. "Out. Maybe you'll hear about it when you're older." Once the kids had left, Bren began again.

"The actual rules of the bending are similar to those of a dogfight. The stronger, meaner, or smarter you are, the more likely you are to survive. Unlike Probending Tournaments, there are no attacks that cannot be used, and the matches are one fighter against another. The only way to win a match is to kill your opponent. Chances are, by the time your opponent is dead, you'll be in need of a few organs, limbs, or bones yourself. It is the winner's right and prize to take the…the parts needed for healing from the opponent's body and have them grafted into or onto their body to aid in healing." She glared at the people in the circle surrounding her. They were staring at her in obvious distaste.

"Did you…" Bolin attempted to ask her, but he couldn't finish the question before she started back into the answer.

"Of course I did. I have parts from hundreds of people in my body or on my body. I mostly took organs, blood, and skin from them." Mako was looking decidedly green, but she steamrolled on. "If you decide not to take your 'prize' from the losers out of some sad moral issue, you'll still be forced to fight the next day, even if you're not healed. It is better to deal with it and heal as much as possible so you don't end up being the next donor. Obviously, most people don't choose to join. Most are either criminals, kidnapping victims, or slaves. If they see someone they want to fight for them, child or adult, they repossess them. Sometimes they will get rid of any of the person's lingering attachments to society." She let out a huffing breath as she finished explaining. "That's all I'm going to tell you for now. Do you get it? Why I need to leave? No matter where I go, the people around me will be in danger. They won't leave until they have me, thanks to Father," the last word was spat out like Spidersnake venom.

"Father…The leader of those pirates mentioned him. Does that make him your brother?" Tenzin inquired.

She laughed a horrible, grating laugh that choked any joy out of the sound. "No, my papa is long dead. As is my mother. Father is the man who made me who I am, today, although he is Zulan's biological parent. That was your third question, and I graciously answered it, despite my limit of two. Now you must let me go to the city."

Everyone looked at each other, holding a silent argument with their eyes until Pema spoke up, surprising everyone. "I think you should go. But not alone. And you must promise to return at night, whenever you go. You won't be safe in the city-"

"But you won't be safe if I'm here!" She yelled, interrupting Pema.

She continued on, ignoring Bren's outburst. "Bolin, Mako, Korra, you all go with her. She'll be safer, as will the citizens, if there are more people there to protect them should you come to blows with the pirates." Bren's mouth opened to protest.

"I'll go, too." Asami chimed in. "I have the electric gloves, I'm sure they'd be useful in a pinch."

Bren's fists tightened as she realized that this was as good as she was going to get. If the need arose, she was sure she could ditch them. "You better not get in my way, amatures. You don't know who you're dealing with." Spinning on her heels, her injuries ignored, she stomped dramatically out the door.

"Hey, wait a moment! You probably want this, right?" Asami called after her. Bren debated whether or not to ignore the other girl, but she gave into common courtesy and faced her. Asami held Bren's cap in her hands, as well as garments that matched the clothes she'd come here in. "If you have to fight, clothes that fit would be a better option," she smiled encouragingly.

Bren swiped her hat from Asami's hands and squashed it onto her head, tucking her hair up through the loops in the cap. She stomped her foot, creating a makeshift changing room and snatched the clothes that Asami was carrying. Moments later, she had changed and was looking decidedly boyish. She reached her hand down to the dirt and swiped some mud from the ground onto her face and clothes. She appeared the same as she had a few days earlier, only she didn't smell as much like most street kids did. "If you lot are so set on coming with, you better not make me wait." She grudgingly nodded her thanks to Asami and headed towards the boat. She hoped that explaining that small part of what Blackbending truly was had scared the rat-pack into staying away from her and the organization, but they were either too stupid to back down or too stubborn to stay away. It had the opposite desired effect on Asami, it seemed, but Mako was staying a good distance away from her. Bolin was trying his hardest to remain his usual peppy self and mostly was succeeding. Korra didn't seem to have an opinion on the matter besides being annoyed that she was being forced to babysit a girl who could obviously take care of herself. Whether Bren wanted it or not, she had people on her side. For now. Sooner or later they'd turn on her like everyone else always did. It wasn't their fault, they were human. _I don't even know if I'm human anymore_, she realized. Everything Father had done to her body might have affected her soul just as much as her physical nature.


	12. Chapter 12

Whoa, I wrote another chapter so quickly! I guess that's what happens when I'm in the car for five hours with nothing to do but write. Sometimes no wifi is a blessing. 3 Cheers, lovely readers!

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Predictably, the moment the group exited the ferry after the ride from the Island to the mainland, Bren disappeared into the ground to escape the people she didn't want along with her in the first place. Unfortunately for the group, Bren's escape hadn't been as predictable to them as it had to the escapee. They stared after her as the earth moved to cover her escape tunnel. Mako took charge of the situation.

"Bolin, you're our only earth bender, so you're going to track her through the ground. Asami and Korra, you two stay together and keep a lookout for any of the pirates or any particularly large disturbances. She may be there, causing trouble. I'm going to go look for Scoochy; Bolin said that he knew Bren from the streets. She's gotten information from him before, so she might go to him now."

For once, it was Asami who protested, not Korra. "I can handle myself; I don't need Korra as a baby sitter!"

"I know you can, that's why I'm sending you with her." He held up a hand to stop Korra from talking, knowing she would argue. "Korra, if you two are looking for the black benders, you guys may need to fight. If it comes to blows, two is better than one in a fight, but a political situation would be better. Asami would be more useful in that sort of situation, with all of her contacts and diplomatic skills. She can help in a pinch. All right?" Bolin hid a grin behind his hand as Korra glared at Mako and grabbed Asami's hand, dragging her off down the street.

"What'd I say?" Mako glanced at Bolin, confused.

"You might have hid the fact that you didn't think she had good people skills, bro. You're going to hear about it later," Bolin snickered and saluted. "I'm off! He entered the ground where Bren had left, leaving Mako to his own devices.

Bolin assumed that he would have a lot of earth bending to do, so he wasn't expecting the layer of earth covering Bren's escape to only be a few feet thick. He expected that Bren had closed up the path behind her. That thought quickly left his mind as he fell from the surface of the path down into an open, spacious tunnel. He rubbed his sore backside, grumbling as he got to his feet to track Bren. It seemed half of his time was spent looking for Bren since he'd first brought her to the island. He didn't mind, terribly much. It had been rather boring after Amon had been defeated. He enjoyed helping the city rebuilt as much as the next bender, but without probending to occupy his time and mind he was bored stiff.

The further he went into the tunnels the more he realized that the tunnels had been well traveled. A path had been worn in the floor by Bren's feet. Coming to a place in the tunnels that forked off into four separate tunnels, he sighed in exasperation. Why couldn't she have made this easier on him? He took off a shoe and stomped the ground, feeling for vibrations in the ground much like a bat sends out echolocation for its next meal. He felt her scurrying through the second tunnel and started to jog after her. She seemed to pause, perhaps hearing or sensing his invasion of the passageways. She didn't send a rockslide his way, but she caused rocks to jut out of the walls of the passageway to make it a tight fit for him to move. He didn't want to take the time to earth bend the rocks back into place, so he tried to make do by squeezing through the tiny spaces left between the rocks. She was slender and short enough that it wasn't a problem for her to maneuver her way through the tunnels. Bren came to a running stop somewhere up ahead of Bolin and climbed the rocks on the wall and disappeared through a hole she earth bent in the ceiling of the cave tunnels by placing her hands on the rock and shoving at it like she was lifting a manhole cover. There was a moment of bright light from the street that quickly disappeared as Bren reclosed the opening with stone.

"Spirits, Bren! Would is kill you to wait up?" He yelled through the tunnels to no avail. If she could hear him through a few feet of stone, she wasn't coming back to hear him complain. He pushed through the last of the stone and rushed up through the earth's crust.

He crawled onto the street, covered in cave dust and slightly annoyed. He glanced around to get his bearings and figure out where they'd ended up. It was the same street that he'd first seen Bren, when she was being chased by the police for stealing food. She was currently knocking urgently on the door of the house where she'd rescued the toddler from falling to their death. Bolin slowed his gait to a stroll, staying just far enough away that Bren couldn't hit him and just close enough that he could hear and see what went on between the owner of the house and Bren. A woman came to the door and carefully opened it, studying Bren with distaste in her eyes and tension in her body language. After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, Bren gave a small, awkward wave and greeted her. She was rewarded by an openhanded slap across her face, hard enough that her head snapped to the side. Bolin took a breath, expecting Bren to retaliate with one of her usual violent outbursts, but Bren surprised him with absolutely no reaction. She stood there silently, tightening her body as the woman pounded relentlessly on her, tears streaming down her face. Finally, Bolin couldn't watch any more. He strode up to the woman and caught her hands in a grip tight enough to stop her movement but not enough to hurt her. Bren didn't say anything or move her face except to flick her eyes in Bolin's direction.

"That's not necessary," Bolin chided the woman mildly, taking visual stock of Bren's injuries. Her face was scratched, and she'd have a few bruises later, but there was nothing more serious than the minor scratches.

The woman stared incredulously up at Bolin, hate obvious in her gaze. "What do you know? It's her fault that those bastards took my daughter!" She turned to Bren, trying to struggle out of Bolin's grip. "You were supposed to protect her. You told me you would! You liar!" She tried to claw Bolin's arms in her efforts to get at Bren. _Why would she be helping someone as vindictive as her? _Bren stared at the sobbing woman silently, taking the verbal abuse for a moment longer before speaking up.

"I was…incapacitated for a few days. With the evidence gone, your husband should have been free to leave jail and come protect you guys, right?" Bren queried, her eyes not focusing on anything.

The woman scoffed at her. "Sure, he got out. You didn't tell us that the people after you were as strong as they were. A normal earth bender like him would never be able to protect us against the monsters who took my baby. _This is all your fault_!" She threw herself against Bolin's grip again, but this time someone had a grip about her waist and pulled her back into the house. Bolin released her, nodding to the man behind her. The woman relaxed momentarily against him as the man began to speak.

"First of all, thank you for helping me get out of prison. We should be grateful for that at least, dear," he pressed his nose into the woman's hair and played with a tip of her hair, twirling it about his fingers. It appeared to calm her down further. "Think about what would have happened had Bren not been here to tell us what was happening. It seems to me that even if she wasn't here this would have happened. We've been lucky for the help she's given us so far."

"If you don't mind me asking," Bolin spoke up timidly, as Bren was still staying silent, "What happened?"

"Those evil benders took my baby girl. They came and attacked my husband and I while they kidnapped her right out of her bed. Henry took a gash to his leg and lost too much blood so he passed out. They left right after they took her. They had tied me to the bed! Do you know how humiliating it was, to be seen as such a weakling that couldn't even help her husband fight? Adrianna was crying the whole time, of course. But then they stabbed her with a needle and she stopped crying and sat there with a blank look and let them take her! Only a few weeks ago we found out that she could earth bend. She hadn't even had time to work with her new talent, it was that new. Now she's gone, and I have no idea where and she could be dead or worse and-"

"I'll get her back." Bren interrupted her tirade.

"What?" The woman stopped and stared. The man behind her just grinned.

"I'll get her back. She was sweet, but that doesn't mean that she's incorruptible. No doubt she'll be somewhat brainwashed. More than likely when you get her back she won't be the same child you knew. If their plans are what I think they are, she's going to go through some pretty horrible stuff." Her eyes bored into the mother and her husband. "But I will get her back, or die trying." She turned on her heel and stormed away from the house without another word. Bolin turned his head back and forth between the confused couple and the pissed-off Bren. He tipped an imaginary hat to the couple and shut the door as he followed after Bren.

When he caught up with her, she stomped along wordlessly for a few minutes, leaving Bolin to follow along or be left behind. She stopped abruptly, nearly causing Bolin to crash into her. She spun around and faced him, righteous ire burning in her eyes. "I am going to take down their organization. They cannot be allowed to do the same thing to other families as they did to me and mine." She swiveled around and continued walking, more slowly and purposefully this time. Bolin grasped her shoulder and turned her around gently. Her eyes held pain from years of torment and tears left unshed because she was forced to be strong. She blinked back the wetness from her eyes and took a breath. "What?" She asked him flatly.

"What's going on, Bren? What happened to your family? How'd you get involved with the black benders in the first place? Also, what's up with your eyes? And I still don't understand what's up with your leg, not really. Can you please fill me in with _something_?"

"Why should I? Now that I have a goal, I don't need you and your friends any more. You won't see me anymore. I'm leaving Republic City and not coming back except to return Adrianna to her parents one way or the other." She tried to brush Bolin's hands from her shoulders, but he didn't move them.

"Why? Because I'm your friend. If that's not a good enough reason, then here: I'm going to help you find Adrianna. I'm sure everyone else would want to help, too. I mean, you could have the Avatar on your side, if you wanted." He splayed his hands as if to show her the vastness of the friendship and potential army she could inherit if she only wished for it.

A bubbling laugh burst unbidden from Bren's mouth, a rare honest smile playing across her lips. "Oh, yes. And how do you propose we sneak into the rings with a loud, obnoxious group of strong benders without someone noticing? No, I go alone." She let the 'friend' comment slide. He could believe what he wanted; it wasn't like she was going to be around long enough to care. It seemed to Bolin that being a friend entailed protecting each other's backs, and she couldn't guarantee that she wanted to be in a contractual relationship like that of a friendship. She might fail him as she did with many other aspects of her life.

"No, you're not. They want the Avatar dead, right?" Bolin tapped his finger on his chin, deep in thought. "If you can't bring more people, you can bring me. Use me as bait, as though you were always planning on going back to the black benders. You can say that you captured me to lure the Avatar to the arenas so you could kill her. You can use that time to find Adrianna and get us out of there." He gazed expectantly at her.

"That would never work," she shook her head.

"You wouldn't know until you tried," he protested.

She glanced away from him. Something about this boy made her so angry, with his well-intentioned prodding. "I have. I escaped once before, when I was younger. I brought a friend with me. We got caught, and they took us back in. I thought they were going to kill us both. Part of me wanted to die, anyways. They made me watch as they killed him, and then they took me to Father. That's when I found out about my…my so called 'destiny.' The reason they weren't going to kill me, not yet at least. I found out about all they'd been doing to my body that they hadn't been doing to everyone else. They'd been giving me injections of mutated DNA from-" She cut herself off before continuing. "-from the old Avatar. Avatar Aang. I don't know how they got ahold of it, but they used me as their guinea pig. I assume that the black eye thing is part of the mutated DNA. All I know is that it made me at least twice as strong, twice as resilient, and twice as fast as most of the other black benders. I also absorbed the bending abilities from the people I killed in matches. The more organs or skin I took from a certain type of bender, the stronger my abilities with that element became, especially earth bending, since that's what I was born with. Only, my body rejected firebending. That's why the leg didn't attach well. Not because it was cauterized. They attached the leg back onto my body, and the leg started on fire and burned the leg back off." Her face was strained as she sank into remembering the bending world she'd been immersed in. "You asked about my parents? And I don't doubt you're wondering why I care so much about that family. In order to get me to join the black benders, the organization killed my parents and took me from my bed while I was sleeping. Both of my parents were average benders and protected me until they died. If they hadn't had the skill they'd had, they might have survived and ended up knocked out or tied up. I have no living family, now. Adrianna…Well, her parents mentioned that she was injected with something. None of the other black benders have been injected with anything, so that makes her and me similar. I have the sinking feeling that since they're annoyed that I won't come back willingly, they decided to start over with the experiments. I've been watching that family for weeks since I came here because they were the only family with a child whose bending manifested early. I didn't want what happened to me to happen to another family. It can't. I'll run their organization into the ground, first." She was breathing in gasps now as she ran out of words and steam. She'd kept her eyes fixed on Bolin's curl of dark hair instead of his eyes so she wouldn't have to stare into his caring eyes. "Do you see why you can't come with me, now? You or anybody? This is something I have to do myself. You worry about keeping the Avatar safe. They're going to try to come after her with Adrianna, given the chance. No doubt they've updated the serum since I was last dosed. It probably is a lot stronger and faster acting than mine was. Sooner or later the only advantage I'm going to have on her is my size. She'll be able to absorb firebending and everything else. I want to get her out of there before they make her start killing. She won't be herself. She won't have morals or fear. If something gets in her way, she'll steamroll over it."

Bolin had the feeling she was speaking from experience. "I wish I had been older when you were taken, I would have rescued you like we're going to rescue Adrianna." He pulled Bren into a warm hug, hoping she would blast him into the stratosphere for his forwardness. She tensed and pulled back at first, but relaxed into his arms after a moment's thought. "Don't even think of trying to ditch me. If you do, Pabu will find you and give you a piece of his mind."

She pushed him back, disentangling him from the hug. "If you're coming, you cannot bring Pabu with you. He'll get slaughtered, possibly eaten, if he would get caught by anyone at the compound."

Bolin punched the air excitedly. "Yesss! Road trip!" He pulled her back to him, smooching her on her cheek and spinning her around. He paused, studying her face. "But we should get your face wounds healed beforehand, huh. It seems redder than before." And it only got worse as he ran his hands delicately over her face in an innocent caress. She swatted his hand away and rubbed at her face, trying to hide her embarrassment.

_I'm going to regret letting him come with, if I live long enough to regret it._


	13. Chapter 13

Hey there! :3 A bit of a shorter chapter, but the action really starts to pick up starting in the next chapter. I promise it won't be that long to wait, darlings! Enjoy, message me, review, favorite, follow, whatever you like! I love each and every one of you.

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Bren dove head first to land face down in the brush to dodge earth bullets. "Mother of Koh!" She cursed, rolling over a particularly sharp stone in her intended escape of the black benders. "Bolin, where in Yue's name are you?" _How had I gotten myself into this mess?_

Three days earlier, when Bolin convinced a dubious Bren to allow him to accompany her to what Bolin had started calling the 'secret lair of the evil black benders' or SLEBB for short, Bren had wanted to leave immediately without informing anyone of their mission. Bolin hadn't allowed it, saying that if their plan didn't work, telling Korra, Mako, and Asami could make a good back up plan if they needed rescuing. Bren shook her head and had insisted that the less people were aware of their plans, the less likely they were to go wrong. Bolin, of course, had other ideas and ignored Bren's cautions.

He informed his brother first, which was a bad idea in itself. Mako, of course, overreacted and wanted to capture Bren immediately and take her back to the island, but Bren stuck out her foot and tripped him when he was coming for her. Bolin just rolled his eyes and explained parts of the situation. He had enough common sense to leave a lot of the more personal things out, but he explained enough that Mako got the gist of the undertaking. He still disliked the idea, but he wasn't going to stop them from going. But he was setting a limit on the amount of days between the time they leave and the time they get back. If they're not back by then, a search party was going to go out looking for them, no matter where they were.

"We want you to come back alive, bro," he smacked a hand in an encouraging manner on Bolin's back. He turned to Bren, giving her a stern look. "Same goes for you; seeing that if you manage to get yourself killed that means Bolin might die, too." He glanced around and moved closer to Bren. "Scoochy gave me something to give to you, he thought it might help. He also says that Snipe hunting is bad this year, whatever that means." He placed a small, leather bound package into her hands and closed her fingers around the package. She slowly unwound the twine holding the piece of leather together and peeked inside the package, the corners of her mouth twitching in something that might be considered a feral smile.

"What's in it?" Bolin peeked over her shoulder and Bren thrust the package away from his view instinctively. She glared daggers at him until he backed away.

"It's my tools. I thought I lost them the day I fell down the stairs. They'll be useful for…for just about everything, really. I wonder how that kid knew I'd need them," she mused.

Mako shrugged. "Scoochy know everyone and everything about everyone, whether that's good news or bad news. It's his thing. He's helped me and Bo more than once when we were on the streets. He sells information. Although," he examined her face. "You already knew that. You've bought information from him before, haven't you?"

She nodded. "He's proved useful to me before. Besides, he has reason to hate the black benders, too. They make trouble for the street kids; more so than Shady Shin, even. And that guy deserves a kick to the rear, too. Can we go, now, please?" She complained. "All I have to do is pick up some supplies from my safe house and head out."

"No way are you leaving me to tell Korra and Asami about all of this! That's your job. I don't want to be the one to tell them that they're missing out on a fight," Mako protested.

"Tell Korra and Asami what?" The girls stepped out from around the corner and marched up towards the group of teenagers, placing their hands on their hips and looking around expectantly waiting for an answer. Bren rubbed her temples and said, "I'm kidnapping Bolin. Goodbye." She grasped Bolin by his waist and they sank immediately into the ground. She could tell by the shifting in the ground that Korra tried to follow them, but Mako must have stopped her before she totally disappeared because the excess rumbling stopped.

She was still carrying Bolin under her arm by his waist. "Why'd you go and say that? It'll take Mako forever to calm her down. I'm sure Asami will understand, but still. You could have just explained it," he accused her lightly as he bounced along with her gait.

"It would have been another long, boring, troublesome conversation that I did not wish to repeat. Mako already knows everything; he can just stop being lazy and tell her. Not my problem." She set him on his feet ungracefully, making him nearly fall but he managed to right himself in time. "I'm going to pick up provisions and a few more tools then we can head out." Her eyes had gone black again while she was carrying him, but the inkiness was draining out of them as Bolin watched. She caught him staring and her eyes narrowed. "What?" She challenged him.

"Nothing," he quickly shook his head, mussing up his chocolaty brown hair with each emphasized shake of his head. "Nothing. Hey!" He realized he did have a question. "What did Scoochy mean by Snipe hunting? Did he mean that you should stick to a certain trail and not go off hunting snipes?"

At the word 'snipe' Bren took in a sharp breath. "Yeah. Something like that." The word brought a bitter taste to her mouth. She just wanted to get this job done as soon as possible so her past would never bother her again with its problems.

Bren refused to let Bolin into her 'room' in the cave tunnels below the city, but she earth bent a slab of the rock to create a bench for Bolin to wait on while she gathered supplies. She reappeared momentarily, the slab of rock she used as a door slamming down behind her. "I just have to talk to Scoochy and leave him a message before we head out. Do you need anything else besides food? I mean, you've got clothes and earth is all around you."

"I'll be good, thanks. I've gone with less for longer," he eyed the packs. She tossed him one of the two cases and slung the second pack over her back. "Would you like me to carry your pack for you? They aren't that heavy."

"I can carry my own weight," she snapped. "It's what I would have done by myself if you hadn't forced your way into coming."

"Hey, I was just trying to be polite! No reason for you to bite my head off," he objected.

She looked at him in a slow glance that started at his feet and worked its way up to his face. "You're right. I'm sorry. I've been neglecting common courtesy lately. Now, come on." She twisted her hair back up into the cap.

Bolin fingered a loose tendril of hair that had escaped the confines of her cap. "Why do you keep your hair up in your cap all the time, now? We know who you are, and the people you were trying to avoid know that you disguise yourself as a boy. What's the point?"

"Just because you came with me doesn't give you the right to question my choices. If this is going to work, you're going to have to follow all my directions exactly as I give them to you." She stomped away huffily. _People shouldn't be able to talk as much as that boy did._ Throwing herself against the far end of the tunnel's wall, she crushed the rocks around her as she fell through, creating a cloud of dust large enough to envelop the entire end of the cave.

Bolin coughed as he felt his way out of the tunnel, the cloud making it impossible to see the light. It wasn't even lunch time yet, and this girl was going to take him all over the country as long as he could keep up. Assuming he didn't upset her and get himself killed in the process. He studied her in the daylight after the dust cloud dissipated. She was eyeing the sky and landscape, presumably to make sure they were headed in the right direction. He admired her ability to forever move forward, although her patience level confused him. She seemed ready to snap at any moment around him and his friends, but when the mother of the kid they were going to rescue was punching the snot out of her; she didn't lift a finger to defend herself. Was she a masochist? _Nah._ _She'd be more likely to be the one beating people up than the other way around. _

Even though she was dressed to appear as a young boy, she still held a feminine grace in her movement. Maybe it wasn't even feminine, more of a feline capacity for sleekness and violence. Whatever it was, it suited her. It was kind of beautiful to just watch her move. _I'd noticed it when she was fighting on the beach against the black benders, but I don't think I really paid that much attention to it at that point._

"Hey, slowpoke. You comin' or what?" Bren was halfway into the middle of a river, floating across on a smooth panel of water. She glanced back in his direction with disinterested eyes, creating a water block for Bolin to stand on. "Don't fall off. While it would be humorous, it would take more time for you to dry than I would appreciate."

Bolin shrugged and stepped lightly onto the block, testing his weight and letting out a relieved breath as he realized that it would hold his weight. He balanced on it like a surfboard as it took him across the river to meet with Bren. "Come on, we have a lot of walking to do. It's not like they're going to put their secret headquarters within a few miles of the City."

"If only." Bolin muttered. He stole another glance at the roguish girl. _Maybe this would be worth it. Probably. As long as we stayed alive._


	14. Chapter 14

Hey there, fine and lovely readers! The chapters might come out more slowly, now that school has once again begun. But I promise to update as often as possible. Enjoy! (This chapter has some interesting fluff and competition. Let me know what you think or how I can do better!)

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They trekked along what used to have been a well beaten trail. Now it was overgrown with weeds, but it wasn't overly difficult to step over the wild plants as they were still close to the ground in height. It'd been about three days since their departure from the City, and they were looking for a safe place to bed down for the evening. They had worked out a schedule that was supposed to allow both of them to sleep for part of the night and be on guard the other part of the night. The only problem was that Bren wouldn't wake Bolin up when it was time for his shift until his shift was already halfway over. If he tried to protest, she'd give him the evil eye until he shut up and let her sleep. She was too stubborn to allow anything other than her own actions on this journey. They came across a clearing and Bolin breathed a sigh of relief. Bren was sensitive to Bolin's exhaustion and didn't push him further, but it was clear that something was bugging her.

"Something doesn't feel right about this place," she muttered, rubbing her arms up and down like she was cold even in the comfortable heat of the summer night.

"Do you want to keep going?" Bolin tried to keep the disappointment from his voice. He was just so tired, even with Bren taking the extra shifts. He wasn't used to traveling like this. It wasn't anything like training for probending tournaments. He was used to using short bursts of energy, not continuous the pushing of his body like the past few days had been.

She straightened her shoulders. "No, I'm sure if it is anything, I can handle it."

"Oh, good, I-" Bolin tripped over something hidden beneath the leaves on the ground. "What the-?" Bren tackled him forwards, knocking him out of the way of the fire lash that spewed from between the rocky outcropping alongside the path. Bren swore colorfully, words that would normally be shocking to hear come out of a lady's mouth spewing out of her like lava from a superheated volcano.

"_Move!_" Bren shoved Bolin ahead of her, deflecting water attacks and other various projectiles with a rock shield. "They found us, idiot. We're sitting turtleducks out here!" There was a sickening crunch as Bolin's face met with a rock she'd deflected and she winced as he collapsed like a ragdoll to the ground. _Well, that takes escaping out of the equation._

She collected her thoughts, letting the tension of an impending battle flow through her and let her relax. She spun a spinning web of water around her arms, using the extended limbs to crack through the foliage and trees surrounding them to knock any unseen opponents out into the open. She crowed with victory, the heady taste of fighting thick in her mouth as she roared and rushed into the attack, beating the would-be attackers into a pulp. She was halted by a blast of fire that nearly singed her hair as she ducked and rolled, stamping a foot into the earth to send a wave of shifting rock in the direction the attack came from. The attack sent a cloud of dust up into the air, making for an exceedingly low visibility level. She cursed again, rolling to avoid razor sharp bullets of stone, only to roll over another painfully pointy rock.

_Where in Yue's name was Bolin?_

She searched for his prone form, expecting him to be where she left him, but he'd disappeared. _They hadn't taken him, had they? This had been a bad decision from the beginning. Only you knew what these idiots were capable of, you had no right to involve anyone else._

"Bren?" Bolin's voice sounded scared, almost childlike in its quietness. She swiveled in the direction his voice had come from, an illogical sense of joy that he wasn't dead or kidnapped sweeping over her until she saw the cause of his fear. She lurched to a halt, nearly falling to her knees. She swallowed, taking in the vision of Bolin's captor. The man was holding Bolin by his throat like he weighed nothing, but he wasn't looking at Bolin. He was staring directly at Bren with a satisfied, sardonic smile on his face.

"Put him down, Snipe." She spoke quietly, noting that the rest of the attacks had ceased as the fight squad looked to their leader as for what to do next.

"Is that all you have to say to me, Ciena? I mean, it's been _years_," he grinned, "since we last went on our little adventure together. I thought you'd be happier to see me alive." He shook Bolin lightly, like he was admonishing a bad puppy. She glared at the man with murderous intent, studying his appearance in the meantime. He was tall with a muscular build that emphasized strength and speed, his head sported strong, handsome jawline coupled with perfect teeth and a devilish grin, and he had a mop of clean and fluffy dark brown hair. She could overpower him if she went dark-eyed, but he outranked her in strength and speed otherwise. She spat on the ground in a very unladylike manner, grinding her foot into the gravel below her.

"Don't call me that. I discarded that name a long time ago. Put him down. _Now_."

He chuckled, the sound rolling deep in his throat. "Why would I do that, _Ciena_? I could easily just kill this dude, whoever he is, and then take you for my own. You know, they gave me permission to do whatever I wanted to you, as long as you came back in about one piece." His gaze traveled down her body leisurely as she remained motionless. Bolin was too groggy to do anything about his current position, struggling weakly against the man's grip as his vision faded in and out with his consciousness. She clenched her jaw. It was her fault that she hadn't just run off before Bolin could have demanded to join her, so now she needed to take responsibility for his capture.

"If you don't put him down-"

Snipe thrust Bolin away from him, unceremoniously dumping his unconscious body with a flick of his wrist, sending him crashing into a tree to lie in a crumpled heap at the base of the trunk. Bren stepped towards Bolin, intent on making sure he was still alive when Snipe appeared in front of her, blocking her path and seizing her thin wrists in his grasp. "There," he breathed in her face, "I put him down. What're you going to do, now?" She froze, hating the situation nearly as much as she hated Snipe for abandoning her all those years ago.

"You're dead to me," she spat. "When we got caught, you chose to join them, become their head of security. You became what we were escaping from, you _traitor_. Do you know what it's like to have your-" She choked on the word, forcing it out of her mouth a moment later. "Your best friend turn into your worst enemy?"

"Oh, we were much more than that, if you'll trouble yourself to recall," his breath tickled her ear, sending shivers up her body. _Not fair._ She rocked back on her heels, retreating as far away as Snipe's grasp would allow. Two years ago Snipe had been a sweet, kind-hearted fighter. He'd been the one who Bren had trusted; he'd been the _only_ one she'd ever trusted. They'd gotten each other out of the rings, and they'd nearly made it to the City before they'd gotten captured. They'd both been given the chance to either work for the Rings or go back to the cages. Bren had thought that Snipe would choose the cages again, just like she had, but he'd shocked her by taking the other option. She vowed to never speak to him again, a promise she'd intended to keep until she saw him today. She'd been fifteen when they escaped and he'd been sixteen. That meant that he was now a man by all definitions. He would have turned eighteen a few months ago. They had been more than friends back then, partly because of the level of trust between them. Her body reacted strongly to his closeness whether she wanted it to or not.

"Bren…" He whispered. "I could make it so you wouldn't have to fight any more. We could go back to the way it was before. You'd like that, right?" He switched his grip on her hands so they were enclosed with one of his hands and nudged her chin with his open hand to face him. She tried to push away again, but he wrapped an arm around her waist and yanked her into him. He claimed her lips with his own in a punishing kiss, releasing his grip on her hands to pull her head even closer to deepen the kiss. Her mind was fighting her body; she knew she wanted to end the conflict here and kill him, but her body arched into his like it had back when they were still close and she whimpered. Tears streaked her face as she continued trying uselessly to push him away by his shoulders. Her emotions were too conflicted for her to go dark-eyed, so she wasn't able to defend herself against his advances. She wasn't quite sure she wanted to. Despite the utter feeling of wrongness, she felt more comfortable in his arms than she had in the last couple of years alone. Even though she bit down on his lip viciously in an attempt at escape, he didn't back off. He was breaking down her internal defenses that she'd so carefully built up since she saw him last. She had to get Bolin and get out of here, otherwise this mission would have been all for nothing. His hand ran smoothly down her spine, playing with the contours of the muscles in her back as he rubbed gentle circles on her lower back. Her thoughts raced frantically, everything blurring together, making it hard for her to think of escaping his hold. She couldn't bend any element; he'd burn through it at the instant she created it, seeing how close together their bodies are.

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

She couldn't have been more surprised if it started raining badgermoles. Bolin had risen from his stupor and punched Snipe in the face. Snipe hadn't been expecting such a fierce attack either, apparently, as he flew thirty feet through the air to slam into a tree. Bolin stomped over to Bren, threw her over his shoulder, and drilled them both underground to evade any elemental assaults from the enemy.

Bolin kept moving, racing through the tunnel he made as fast as possible and continuously closed it up behind him. Finally he stopped moving after he made sure no one had followed them too closely. He grasped her limp form and held her in front of him by her shoulders. Her face was blank, like there was no one home. "Hey." He shook her lightly, but she didn't respond. "Hey!" He moved his hands to her waist and held her up so her head was level with his. "Look at me. What was that? Who was that?"

Her gaze wandered sideways. She was still processing everything that had just happened herself, Bolin could see that. He sighed and sat down, creating seats for both himself and the unresponsive girl. "Take your time. You weren't expecting all that, were you?"

"N-no," she stuttered, falling silent again. She took a breath, centering herself. "No. I wasn't. I thought maybe they'd send a small team like usual. I didn't expect them to send _him_. Although I should have been warned, especially since Scoochy told me to beware of Snipe hunting," she trailed off dejectedly.

They sat in the silence a few more minutes before Bolin's blatant staring got under her skin and she snapped. "What?"

He moved in front of her, invading her personal space. "There's blood on your lip. Are you bleeding?" He swiped a finger delicately along her bottom lip, blood trickling down the pad of his finger when he removed it from her lips.

She scooted backwards as far as the wall would allow without her discomfort from Bolin's familiar-ness becoming obvious. "No, I'm not hurt. I…" She paused, grinning momentarily. "I bit him. It's his blood, not mine."

"Oh, GROSS!"


	15. Chapter 15

It has been far too long, and for that, I deeply apologize. I hope this response makes up for my shortcomings! I love each and every one of you~

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Bolin scrubbed his finger against the wall of the cave, muttering something about 'evil blood' on his hands. Bren grasped his elbow, pulling him away from the wall before he rubbed the skin completely off of his hand.

"Oh, calm down. He's perfectly healthy, so his blood won't make you ill. If it bugs you that much, here." She took his hand in hers and wove a pattern in the air with her other hand, fingers dancing delicately in the air. Water rose from the ground as she called it up from an underground stream. She encased their connected hands in a bubble of water and cleansed the blood from his hand. "There, see? No reason for pain." She retracted her hand from the water bubble and quickly healed the mild scratches on his hand. Sending the water bubble around his body, she located his injured regions from the fight and set the water to healing the things that needed healing.

The tension in Bolin's shoulders eased as the aches went away. He'd known that none of his injuries had been bad enough to worry about but Bren would have worried regardless, so he let her do her thing as he relaxed against the cave wall. "So…" he began, "was he your boyfriend, or what?"

Retreating to her side of the tunnel, she remained silent for a few minutes until Bolin was afraid that she was going to force him to let her complete the mission by herself.

"Do you remember when I told you that I'd escaped with another person, but they'd died?" Bolin nodded, prompting her to continue her explanation. "Snipe was that guy, only he didn't die. Not in the physically dead way, at least. He chose to join up with our enemy rather than go back to the cages and fight, so he was dead to me."

"Cages?" Bolin interrupted. "You never mentioned cages. You don't mean that in the literal sense, like a chickendog cage, right?"

"That's exactly what I meant." Bren supposed that Bolin should know more about the way things were run in the place they were going to break into. "They figured out a way to contain each type of bender. Earthbenders got wooden cages, waterbenders got metal cages in arid air, firebenders got cages that kept them in dry suits underwater. They don't have any air benders, so they didn't have to worry about that. I got special cages," her eyes narrowed, "but none of them could contain me forever; I always found a way to break out. Anyways, Snipe joined up and became their head of security. No one has escaped since then. Except for me."

"You still didn't answer my question."

"I chose the 'or what' option to answer."

"Come on, there was more to it than that. No one kisses a girl like that if there wasn't some backstory to go along with it," he prodded.

"You ain't met Snipe afore, neither," she slipped into street-cant as her frustration rose. "What 'e do ain't never make no much sense. 'E jes' do what 'e wants to do."

"But you don't."

"What?" She rounded on him, glaring up at the boy who defied her frustration.

"You don't do what you want to do, you're always trying to protect people whether it's in your self-interest or not. But I saw you out there when I woke up. Some part of you knew his affection."

"What're you accusing me of, boy?" Her voice dropped into a deadly quiet tone.

"You're not going to get out of this by trying to intimidate me. Not this time." He got in her face, staring down at her while invading her personal space, trapping her by placing his arms on either side of her against the cave wall. "I'm not accusing you of anything. I'm saying that you're not completely 'over' or unaffected whatever went on between you two back when you were still friends. Please, with this situation being as confusing as it is already; please just give me a simple answer."

She pursed her lips and stood up on her tiptoes, using the earth to make her level with Bolin's eyes before answering. "We were very close. Yes, he was my boyfriend, for a time. Obviously," she spat, "it didn't work out quite as well as normal relationships would. I guess he didn't realize that when he made the choice to join the enemy, it broke off whatever we had between us. I don't hold feelings for him anymore; whatever happened out there was not my doing." Her face grim, she swatted aside one of his arms and started tunneling up through the layers of the earth. She hated bringing up the past, especially anything that caused her undue emotions. It was difficult to think objectively when your opponent was someone who was a big part of who you were in your past. She popped her head out of the ground and surveyed the land around her. She'd tunneled far enough outside of where the fight had occurred that she could see the damage from the brawl, but not every detail of every blast. It seemed that the black benders had dissipated along with their leader. For now, at least. Bolin's head appeared next to hers and she glanced sidelong at him. "Thank you," she mumbled.

"What was that?"

She tucked her chin down into the comfort of the earth. "I said, thank you. I'm not certain I know what would have happened if you hadn't punched him. I guess you can be useful."

Bolin's face split into a huge grin and he whacked her boisterously on the back. "Hey, no problem! He had it coming, anyways, kissing you like that. He ought to be more respectful of a lady's wishes."

Snorting out a laugh, she tried to hide a reciprocating smile and failed. "I doubt he's been punched anywhere for a few years, let alone punched in the face. One thing, though, I'm no lady. Have you seen me?" She shook her head. "Any chance I had of being a lady was lost a long, long time ago."

Bolin scrambled out of the hole in the ground and offered a hand to help her out of the ground. "Are you kidding me?" He gasped out a laugh at her bewildered face. "What kind of man could withstand his leg being blown off and then still have the mental skill to craft a new leg for their own that appears and feels human?" He ran a hand up her prosthetic limb she'd made out of earth and stone, causing her to stop and shiver, biting her lip uncertainly and looking up at him through her eyelashes, trying to decide whether or not she ought to shove him. His thumb rasped over the place where her thigh met the cool stone leg and she swallowed hard as he spoke. "Only one heck of a lady could pull that off," he whispered. "You're perfectly ladylike in the best ways."

"Yes, um, well," she stuttered, taken by surprise at Bolin's forward gesture. "Er, let's just keep moving, all right?"

He blinked, blushed, and scuttled backwards as she strode away, rubbing the back of her neck to ease the sense of awkwardness. His intent hadn't been to be disrespectful; he knew she'd been through quite a bit in the last day. Still, he couldn't ignore the flush of heat that rose off of her skin at his touch.

"Come on! Since they sent Snipe out after us, you should have guessed that we're quite close. Couldn't your pea brain figure that out, twinkletoes?" she called, insulting him lightheartedly, weaving a path through the trees and brush once again.


	16. Chapter 16

"I still can't believe we lost the element of surprise," Bolin sighed, cursing their sore luck.

"Well, we did. No point blathering 'bout somat you can't do 'nything 'bout," Bren pointed out. Despite being in close quarters to the people who'd held her hostage for most of her life, she'd never looked more relaxed. Fighting was her element. Squatting on the far side of a large boulder, Bolin and Bren watched factions of bender guards enter and exit through a hole in the rock. "C'mon," she muttered, pulling Bolin down as she sank under the ground.

Finally halting their descent, Bolin's torso pressed up against her back. "Uh, Bren?"

"What."

"Aren't we- Isn't this a bit cramped in here?"

Sighing, she turned and faced him, craning her neck painfully to see him properly. "I ain't got time for ye to get claustrophobic."

"I'm not! I was only- Y'know what, never mind," he decided to keep his mouth shut. No doubt she was focused on the issue at hand, not the poor guy her body was pressed up against.

Spinning back around, Bren sank her hands through the earth in front of them. Hearing a faint clunk, she withdrew her hands and backed up, nearly crushing Bolin against the wall behind them. Winding up, her elbow digging into Bolin's gut, she punched the wall, destroying the remaining earth between them and a metal wall. She grinned. "Checkmate."

"What's that noise?" Shoving his ear against the metal wall, Bolin listened to a whooshing sound growling behind the sheets of metal.

"That," Bren said, cracking her knuckles expectantly, "is one hundred thousand tons of water rushing through pressure-sensitive metal-cased walls. An effective way to keep benders inside, assuming they don't have more than one type of bending."

"Oh, so you can move the metal to block the water, right?"

"Wrong." She leered at the wall. "Ye underestimate 'ow desperate I made 'em. Their forces intent on keepin' me in a cage are far stronger than most criminal benders' cages at high security prisons. If I move the metal without keeping the same pressure on all the points in the metal, the sensors in the trap will activate and they'll know I've arrived and where I am. I've got to be ahead of th' game, 'r I'll lose." Without another word, she snapped her eyes shut and jammed her hands harshly against the cool face of metal with a bang. Peeling layer by layer of metal off of each other, she curled the metal away from the rushing water.

Yanking Bolin against her, she moved his arms so they wrapped around her torso, glaring emphatically at him with black-dyed eyes. "Hold on, if'n you know what's good for yer life."

Clutching Bren's body tightly to him, he walked forward as she moved towards the wall, bending the metal away from them as she moved, her concentration focused solely on keeping the exact pressure even in the metal walls. Once they walked through the metal passageway, they reached the jetting water. Taking a deep breath, Bolin felt the water brushing over his hair. As she carefully bent the water around them, she took care to keep the speed of the water equal as she bent the metal back in place behind them. Hair on Bolin's arms stood on end as he kept a hold on Bren's shirt; he could feel the power flowing around her.

Reaching the end of the waterway, she mumbled, "One layer of metal and we're in." Water strained around them as Bren used more and more force to control the current. Placing her hand on the metal, she shrieked and fell back against Bolin, barely managing to keep the flowing water off of them.

Reacting to her screech, Bolin automatically punched through the metal, the remnants of a charge hitting his body and frying the hair on his arms. They tumbled out of the water trap into a hallway. Heavy feet tramped towards them, warning Bolin of trouble to come. The electrical current that ran through the metal wall hadn't affected him as severely as it had affected Bren. Hoisting Bren's limp form over his shoulder, he started running.

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Wow, this chapter is extremely brief. But, this means that they're finally within the arena, right? Whatever might happen? Review and let me know what you are thinking!


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